Medusa (Μέδουσα, Medousa, guardian, protectress), also known as the Gorgon (Γοργώ, γοργών, γοργόνων, the Grim One, grim, fierce, terrible), was one of the three monstrous Gorgon sisters (Γόργονες, the Gorgons).There are several versions of myths concerning the Gorgons, related by ancient Greek authors. The earliest known written accounts were by Homer and Hesiod, probably some time between the 8th - 7th centuries BC. Homer only mentions the terrifying Gorgon's head [1] the Gorgoneion (see below).Hesiod (Theogony, lines 270-303 [2]) was the first to record what came to be considered the essential myth concerning the Gorgons, including their birth, Medusa having sex with Poseidon and her death at the hands of Perseus. Hesiod tells us that there were three Gorgon sisters, daughters of the chthonic sea deities Phorkys and Keto: Stheno (Σθεννώ, mighty or forceful), Euryale (Εὐρυάλη, far-springer or far-roaming) and Medusa (the queen, or guardian, protectress), who was mortal.Another, perhaps more extensive account of the myth of Perseus and the Gorgons was written by the poet Pherecydes, around the first half of the 5th century BC, in the second book of his Genealogies. Only fragments of the account survive in an ancient scholion (commentary) on the Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius. It was also referred to in the Library of Pseudo Apollodorus. [3]In the play Ion by Euripides, the Gorgons were monsters produced by the Earth goddess Gaia to assist her sons, the Giants, in their battle against the gods (the Gigantomachy), during which the sisters were killed by Athena [4]. The Gigantomachy is the subject of the frieze around the outside of the Pergamon Great Altar of Zeus. (See Pergamon gallery 2, page 23; see also part of another frieze showing Athena fighting the Giants on Pergamon gallery 2, page 14.)The original home of the Gorgons is uncertain. Hesiod (Theogony, lines 270-303) described them living near the Hesperides, far to the west of Greece, across the Mediterranean in north Africa. Herodotus, Pausanias and Ovid wrote that they were from Libya, the Greek name for northwest Africa. However, Aeschylus locates them to the east of Greece, on the "Gorgonean plains of Cisthene", and another source relates that they lived on an island called Sarpedon, perhaps one of two places said to have had this name in Thrace and Anatolia (Asia Minor). [5, all references]Theories have attempted to trace the origins of the Gorgon myths to Greek conquests of Anatolia and the assimilation or destruction of indigenous religions. According to such theories, the Gorgon or Gorgons may have been one or more local deities. Other theories have explored the roots of the myths in linguistic, psychoanalytical or sexual terms.The rapid spread of depictions of the Gorgons from the 7th century BC around the Greek world, including Anatolia, Egypt, Italy and Sicily (see below), coincides with a period in which Greeks were establishing colonies and trading posts around the Mediterranean and as far as the Black Sea (see for example the History of Stageira). Such adventurous undertakings brought them into contact and conflict with hitherto unknown cultures, including those of northwestern Africa.The Phoenicians, their competitors, established colonies around the western Mediterranean, including Carthage in north Africa, with which the Greeks in the west were to wage wars over the coming centuries. Many Greek myths and legends, including the adventures of heroes such as Herakles, Odysseus, Jason and Perseus, reflect historical incursions into unknown geographical areas; dangerous undertakings which promised either death or wealth and fame to the adventurers.The myths added epic proportions and supernatural elements: the superhuman heroes had magical weapons and devices lent by their supporting deities, and their enemies became terrible monsters with enormous power. But the heroes often had to use their brains as well as brawn to overcome their foes. These tales must have served as encouragement to the Greeks settling in distant lands and surrounded by enemies, reinforcing their cultural belief that faith in their gods and rulers, courage, steadfastness and intelligence would ensure their survival.Age-old tales developed over centuries of oral transmission, and new elements were added, often borrowed from traditions of other cultures; further embellishments made the tales more exciting as well as providing back-stories to explain the origins of characters and situations.Ovid, in Metamorphoses (Book 4), tells us that Medusa was originally beautiful, had shining hair and was desired by many males. Her beauty aroused Poseidon to rape her in a temple of Athena. As retribution for this sacrilege, Athena cursed Medusa, turned her hair into a mass of serpents and made her face so terrible that anyone who looked at it was turned to stone. [6]
With the help of Athena, Hermes, Hades and the Nymphs, the hero Perseus flew (on wings borrowed from Hermes) to Medusa's home and killed her as she slept. He cut off her head, and the winged horse Pegasus (Πηγασος, Of the Spring) and Chrysaor (Χρυσάωρ, Gold Blade), the hero with the golden sword, sprang from her blood (see photos below).The Gorgon's severed head, known as the Gorgoneion (Greek, Γοργόνειος , Γοργόνειον, Gorgon mask), or the gaze of her eyes alone, could turn those who saw it to stone, and became a fearsome weapon.
In northwest Africa, Perseus used the Gorgoneion to turn the Titan Atlas to stone (the origin of the Atlas Mountains), then flew to the Aegean island of Seriphos, where he petrified King Polydectes, who had schemed to kill him and marry his mother Danae. [7] He then gave the head to Athena who added it to her armament by attaching it to her aegis.The threat of the supernatural power of the Gorgoneion, or even an image of it, was believed to provide protection from enemies, and possess apotropaic qualities (i.e. it could ward off evil). It was used as a symbol of several Greek cities, appearing on coins, architectural decoration and sculpture. The presence of an image of the Gorgoneion on a building, grave or other object was meant to scare off potential attackers, thieves and evil spirits. Pausnaias wrote that the Athenians placed a gilded head of Medusa on the south wall of the Acropolis:"On the South Wall, as it is called, of the Acropolis, which faces the theatre [of Dionysos], there is dedicated a gilded head of Medusa the Gorgon, and round it is wrought an aegis."Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book I, chapter 21, section 3.The Gorgoneion may have been large enough to be seen by ships arriving at Piraeus, and have been set up both as a symbol of Athena and a protective talisman. [8]

The head of Gorgon Medusa on a silverhalf stater from Anatolia (Asia Minor).6th century BC.Numismatic Collection,Bode Museum, Berlin.

The Gorgoneion on a bronze coin fromOlbia (Ὀλβία Ποντική), a port at thenorth of the Black Sea (modern Ukraine),a colony of Miletus founded in the7th century BC. Circa 450-400 BC.Alpha Bank Numsimatic Collection,Athens, Greece.

Medusa

Medusa, Gorgons and the Gorgoneionin Greek, Etruscan and Roman art

A number of prehistoric artefacts showing creatures with monstrous heads are thought by some scholars to represent Gorgons, even small ceramic heads or masks of the Neolithic Sesklo culture (in Thessaly and Macedonia) from around 6000 BC. However, the various theories attempting to associate such objects with the Greek Gorgon myths have yet to be proved.The figure of the Gorgon Medusa, or just the Gorgoneion, appeared in many types of Greek and Etruscan art from as early as the 7th century BC (Archaic period), particularly on pottery, paintings, architectural decoration and coins (see Earliest depictions of the Gorgon myth in the note below). One of the earliest known depictions of figures clearly identifiable as Gorgons was painted around 660 BC on an amphora known as the "Eleusis Amphora" (see below).From the 6th century BC the depiction of Medusa's head in the form of a frontal "lion mask" (or "humanoid lion") became standard around the Greek world. The head is usually round, with wavy hair, or topped or surrounded by writhing snakes; the ears are brought forward and stick out frontally; the glaring eyes are large, prominent, sometimes bulging, with thick ridges for eyebrows; the broad nose has a flat ridge, sometimes wrinkled, with a knob at the tip; the cheeks and chin are full and rounded; the wide, grimacing mouth has long fangs in place of upper and lower incisor teeth, and a protruding tongue.Full figures of Medusa show her winged, wearing a short chiton (tunic), sometimes covered by an animal pelt, and a belt, often of knotted snakes. She is either barefooted or has winged ankles or boots. She is posed in what is often referred to as the "Knielauf" (literally knee-run) schema, a word coined by German archaeologists to describe the kneeling posture favoured by Archaic artists to convey rapid running or flying, for example the Archaic statue of winged Nike from Delos. As with the Nike statue, Medusa's limbs often are arranged in the form of a swastika. The posture is also referred to as the "pinwheel pose".The Gorgoneion appeared on early Greek coins from at least the second half of the 6th century BC. A rare Athenian didrachm of circa 545-515 BC and several coin types (stater, drachm and trihemiobol) from Neapolis, Thrace (today Kavala, Macedonia, Greece) of circa 510-480 BC show Medusa with a potruding tongue, and later coins minted around the Greek world (for example Lesbos, Korkyra (Corfu), Cyzicus and Silenus, Sicily) also bore this motif into Hellenistic times. [9]The Gorgoneion is often shown on representations of Athena (see, for example, "Athena with the cross-banded aegis" on Pergamon gallery 2, page 13). Although the various versions of the myths tell quite different stories, and may be interpretations of local traditions or later inventions, most involve Athena. Apart from the Gorgoneion itself, the strong and ancient association of Athena with snakes is the subject of many myths and images of the goddess. Medusa is often shown wearing a girdle fastened with a knot, as is Athena (for example, the "Altemps" Athena Parthenos statue in the Palazzo Altemps of the National Museum of Rome).Medusa's appearance later became more common and she remained a popular motif into Roman times, for example on armour, mosaics, column bases, tombs and sarcophagi. However, from the late 6th century BC some depictions of her were already less wild, terrible and ugly and she was gradually transformed from a powerful, dangerous beast - the "horrid type" - to a form more human, attractive, tame, and even benign, typified by "beautiful type" Gorgoneions. [10] Although she mostly appears feminine, many Gorgoneions are androgynous or decidedly masculine. The varieties of representations are illustrated in the photos below.The famous mosaic from Pompeii of Alexander the Great in battle with the Persian King Darius III shows Alexander wearing a Gorgoneion on the breastplate of his armour (see photo below). The mosaic is thought to be based on a painting by Philoxenos of Eretria, "Alexander and Darius at the Battle of Issus", of around 315 BC. However, the Gorgoneion in the mosaic and in other artworks of Roman times may be later embellishments. As far as I know, there is no depiction of Alexander made during his lifetime, or of his successors, wearing armour with a Gorgoneion (although, see the "Alexander Aigiochos" type statues).It is certain that Roman leaders are shown wearing the Gorgoneion on their armour from the time of the first emperors, such as Claudius (see photos below), and Hadrian seems to have been especially fond of this emblem, as can be seen from many surviving statues of him (photos below).Deified emperors were represented wearing the aegis and Gorgoneion as part of the iconography of imperial religion, which identified them with the ancient mythological deities such as Jupiter/Zeus. According to the Roman author Servius, this breast armour was called aegis when worn by a god, and lorica when worn by a man. [11]

Detail of a fragmentary limestone statueof a male, on whose apron are theGorgoneion and the Uraeus, the doubleserpent symbol of Egyptian pharoahs.
From Idalion (Dali), near Nikosia, Cyprus.Late 6th century BC.Neues Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. ANT SK 508.

Detail of a terracotta plaque of a Gorgonin Syracuse, Sicily. Late 7th century BC.See below.

A terracotta ceremonial mask from the "Bothros" of the Upper Citadelof Tiryns, in the Argolid, Peloponnese. Late 8th - early 7th century BC.Nafplion Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 4789.

One of four similar masks on display in the museum (see photo below; the other three are numbered 4790, 4791 and 9095), they are all badly damaged and have been restored. Five masks were discovered in a pit in the Upper Citadel of the ancient fortified city of Tiryns (Τίρυνς), which had been an important political and cultural centre during the Mycenaean period. The area of the citadel is thought to have been a sanctuary of Hera, and the pit perhaps a bothros (βόθρος), used in sacrificial rituals.Some scholars believe that the ugly, boar-toothed creatures may be early depictions of the Gorgon's head. Tiryns is one of the Argolid cities associated with the myths of Perseus and Medusa. If these masks were actually worn, they would have covered the entire head, but there are no incisions in the eyes and the wearer would have been "blind". The masks have pierced ears for earrings, identifying them as female.The Tiryns masks have been compared to terracotta masks of the 7th - 6th century BC discovered in the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Sparta. According to various theories, the masks were asscociated with rituals of initiation or coming of age. However, the Spartan masks are very different in form and design.The artefacts found in the "Bothros" include painted terracotta shields with some of the earliest narrative depictions of mythological scenes in Greek art (see Homer).

The four terracotta masks from Tiryns displayed in Nafplion Archaeological Museum.

Gorgons on the body of the "Eleusis Amphora", a large Proto-Attic amphora.Around 660 BC. Excavated in 1954 in the West Cemetery, Eleusis. Pot Burial Γ6.
It had been used as a funeral urn and contained the skeleton of a 12 year old boy.
It is the name vase of the Polyphemos Painter. Height 1.42 m.Gorgon scene height 52 cm, width 175 cm.Eleusis Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 2630.

The amphora was discovered in 1954, during excavations at Eleusis, led by Greek archaeologist George E. Mylonas (see Demeter, note 6), among prehistoric burials in soil only 25-30 cm below the modern level. It is thought that the amphora had been damaged and many parts dragged away during centuries of ploughing.Medusa's sisters, Stheno (mighty) and Euryale (far-springer), are shown with grotesque oval, mask-like heads, enormous eyes, turned vertically, and wide slits of mouths with teeth like spikes. Snakes writhe on either side of their heads and necks, and the Gorgon on the left has griffin heads growing from the top of her head. The shape of their heads and the griffin and snake decorations have led sholars to compare them to the forms of bronze cauldrons used in sacrificial rituals (see photo, below right). Notably, they are not shown with wings.On the upper garment of the Gorgon on the right are traces of a scaly pattern. In contrast to the hideous heads, the bodies and poses of the sisters appear relatively graceful. Their twig-like arms and ill-defined hands are stretched out in front of them. They wear split skirts from which their surprisingly shapely left legs protrude (as in the plate from Kamiros below). They appear to be running to the right; although, according to the myth, they pursue Perseus after he has killed Medusa, the poses suggest that they are fleeing or even dancing.Their way is blocked by Athena to the right (see photo, right). Only part of her head, her arm holding a spear or staff, part of her long garment and her feet and ankles peeping from below it, are preserved.On the other side of the vase, to the left, the decapitated body of Medusa lies - or floats - horizontally (see photo below). The part of the amphora showing her head has not been preserved, and only the black legs of Perseus can now be seen.These are among the earliest depictions of figures clearly identifiable as Gorgons, and of the myth of Perseus killing Medusa. [12] It is thought to be an original composition of the painter, and may have been an illustration of oral traditions or even a written version of the myth: Hesiod's poem Theogony [see note 2] may have been in circulation by this time. At 52 cm high, they are the largest figures yet found on an ancient Greek vase. The depiction of Athena is also one of the earliest in Attic art.The neck of the amphora shows Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemos (a short article with a photo of the entire amphora). The amphora also features a lion confronting a boar on the shoulder, large intertwining "snakes" formalized as cable patterns, numerous space-filling, orientalizing abstract and floral motifs, and "fretwork" handles.

Athena on the "Eleusis Amphora".She holds a spear or staff indicatedby a simple brushstroke.

A bronze cauldron on a tripod (from anothercauldron) of iron rods. This type of cauldronwas first made in Greece in the 7th centuryBC. The rims were often decorated with
attached heads of griffins and sirens.Delphi Archaeological Museum.

Medusa's decapitated body on the "Eleusis Amphora".

An Archaic vase painting of two running winged Gorgons.Behind them the body of the decapitated Medusa.Detail of the body of an Archaic Attic black-figure neck amphora,
circa 620–610 BC. Known as the "Nessos Amphora", it is the namevase of the Nessos Painter, named after the inscribed painting on
the neck depicting Herakles fighting with the Centaur Nessos.Watercolour by Émile Gilliéron (1850–1924).National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 1002 (CC 657).

The 122 cm tall amphora was excavated in Pireaus Street, Keramaikos, central Athens in 1890.Stheno and Euryale, wearing short, belted chitons, run or fly to the right in the "Knielauf" position. The face of the Gorgon in the centre has detailing in red. Strangely, her left arm is shown behind her wing, which may be an oversight or whimsy of the painter. On the left, the headless body of Medusa slumps forward, her wings and arms lowered, and blood pours from her neck. A bird of prey hovers above the corpse.The faces of the Gorgon sisters are painted in a variant of the lion mask. Their wavy hair is neatly parted in the middle, and they have what appear to be beards, in the form of thick curls hanging around the line of their jaws. These "beards" probably originated from images of Medusa's head in which dripping blood or bloody veins and sinews hang below her head like spikes (see, for example, the Gorgoneion below). The tips of their noses and nostrils are indicated by an outline shaped like a ram's head (or Ionic capital).Below the Gorgons are a row of leaping dolphins, perhaps suggesting that the scene is taking place near the sea. Perseus does not appear on the amphora which is only decorated on one side: the rear, although fragmentary, is marked only with three brushstrokes. It has been suggested that Perseus may been painted on a twin amphora, now lost.The painting on the neck shows Herakles fighting the centaur Nessos. The scene has given the name to the vase and the Nessos Painter.

A now lost fragmentary louterion (λουτήριον, wide spouted krater), also attributed to the Nessos Painter, was found in a well in the ancient city of Aegina, among other ceramic fragments, mostly of Corinthian pottery. Two of the inscribed painted panels from around the top of the vessel's body had survived. One showed Athena (name inscribed) standing behind Perseus (name inscribed) running or flying to the right in the "Knielauf" position, pursuing the headless Medusa and her two Gorgon sisters (figures missing). The other panel depicted two winged Harpies (inscription ΑΡΕΠΥΙΕ), running/flying to the right. Fragments of a lower band showed sphinxes and animals (horses, panthers, bulls). Height of louterion 28 cm, diameter 55 cm. State Museums Berlin (SMB). Inv. No. F 1682.See: Adolf Furtwängler (1853-1907), Beschreibung der Vasensammlung im Antiquarium, Erster Band. Königliche Museen zu Berlin. Pages 220-221, No. 1682 (2636). W. Spemann, Berlin, 1885. At the Internet Archive.

A reconstruction drawing of the frontof the amphora by Émile Gilliéron.

Perseus flies with the head of Medusa.Fragments of a painted terracotta plaque, probably a metope, from the wooden
temple of Apollo, Thermon (Θέρμος), Aetolia, central Greece. Circa 630-620 BC.Thought to be the work of a Corinthian workshop. Excavated at Thermon in 1889.Watercolour by Émile Gilliéron (1850–1924).National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 13401.

A youthful Perseus, with a goatee beard, strides to the right in the "Knielauf" position. He wears a black petasos (brimmed sun hat), a short, belted chiton and winged boots. A scabbard hangs from a strap slung diagonally over his right shoulder: part of the sword's hilt can still be seen. Under his right arm the top of Medusa's frontal head appears over the top of the kibisis (κίβισις), the pouch he has been given by the Nymphs. The mouth is visible through the fabric of the pouch.Image source: Georg Kawerau, Giorgios Sotiriades, Der Apollotempel zu Thermos,
in Antiker Denkmaler Band II, 1902-1908, pages 1-8 and plate 51.1.
Kaiserlich Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin, 1908.At Heidelberg University Library.

Bloody tendrils hang from the severed head, which has enormous eyes, wrinkled cheeks and a nose indicated by a countoured shape, like a ram's head (as on the "Nessos Amphora" above). The head of a griffin can be seen growing from the head, top left, and a snake on the right.Ovid wrote that as Perseus flew over the Libyan desert carrying Medusa's head, drops of blood from it fell onto the sand and turned into deadly snakes which infested the land:"... as he borethe viperous monster-head on sounding wingshovered a conqueror in the fluent air,
over sands, Libyan, where the Gorgon-headdropped clots of gore, that, quickening on the ground,became unnumbered serpents; fitting causeto curse with vipers that infested land."
Brookes More (translator), Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 4, lines 604-705.
Cornhill Publishing Co., Boston, 1922. At Perseus Digital Library.Image source: Georg Kawerau, Giorgios Sotiriades, Der Apollotempel zu Thermos,
in Antiker Denkmaler Band II, 1902-1908, pages 1-8 and plate 52.
Kaiserlich Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin, 1908.At Heidelberg University Library.

A reconstruction drawing by the German architect and archaeologistGeorg Kawerau (1856-1909) of part of the roof and entablature of theDoric temple of Apollo at Thermon, showing the antefixes and metopes.See more about antefixes below.Image source: Georg Kawerau, Giorgios Sotiriades, Der Apollotempel zu Thermos,
in Antiker Denkmaler Band II, 1902-1908, pages 1-8 and plate 49-1.
Kaiserlich Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin, 1908.At Heidelberg University Library.

Ceramic plate showing a winged goddess with the head of a Gorgon,wearing a split skirt, and holding in each hand a water bird by its neck.Made on Kos about 600 BC. From Kamiros, Rhodes.Height 2.5 cm, diameter 32 cm, weight: 1.19 kg.The goddess is thought to be Potnia Theron (Πότνια Θηρῶν), the Mistress of Animals,
depicted in ancient Minoan, Mycenaean, Greek and Etruscan art as a winged goddessholding animals in both hands. It is not known why the figure on this plate has a Gorgon's
head, or to put it another way, why a Gorgon was depicted as the Mistress of Animals.British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1860.4-4.2. Acquired in 1860.

The fragments of the figure were discovered during excavations in 1913-14 around the site of the temple of Athena on the island of Ortygia, Syracuse. The first temple was built there in the 8th century BC, and enlarged in the second half of 7th century. It was replaced in the early 5th century BC by a Doric temple built by the tyrant Gelon (Γέλων, died 478 BC) to commemorate the Sicilian Greek defeat of the Carthaginian invasion at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, at the same time as Xerxes' Persian invasion of Greece was thwarted at the Battle of Salamis (Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, chapter 166, section 1).The Cathedral of Syracuse was built by Bishop Zosimo in the mid 7th century AD over the remains of the temple, using the ancient columns and other architectural elements which can still be seen inside and outside the building. The Via Minerva is today known as the Piazza Minerva, a large square on the north side of the cathedral which covers part of the sanctuary of Athena. The Gorgon plaque may have decorated an altar or a metope of a Protoarchaic building in the sanctuary.The plaque, made in a mould and finished by hand, is of orange clay with a pale yellow-beige slip, painted in blue, black, red, purple and yellow, with a black backgound. The four, symmetrically arranged holes indicate that it was nailed to a wooden support.Medusa, wearing a short tunic, a split skirt and winged boots, runs/flies to the left in the "Knielauf" position. Her frontal, lion-mask head is topped by two symmetrical rows of spiral curls; locks in incised chequered patterns fall over her shoulders. Her three (of originally four) sickle-shaped wings, like those on her boots and Pegasus, are tightly curled like sea waves. She has an earring (or hole for one), marked by a red dot on her right earlobe.She holds her child Pegasus in her lowered right hand, supporting it below the stomach on bent fingers. The reconstructruction of the left hand shows her to have very long fingers. It is thought that she originally held her son Chrysaor on her left arm and shoulder (see photo below).This is one of the earliest of a large number of ancient depictions of Gorgons found on Sicily. According to Thucydides (Book 6, chapter 3), Syracuse was founded by colonists from Corinth around 734 BC, and the iconography of such depictions may have been influenced by Corinthian models [13].

Metope with a relief of Perseus killing the Gorgon Medusa, with the aid of Athena (left), from Temple C, on the acropolis of Selinous (Selinunte), Sicily.540-510 BC. Local limestone from Menfi, northeast of Selinunte.Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, Palermo, Sicily.

Medusa, in the "Knielauf" position, holds Pegasus with her right hand. Perseus, wearing winged sandals, averts his gaze from the Gorgon and decapitates her with a sword in his right hand, while with his left hand he grasps the hair on the top of her head.This metope (metope VII) was one of ten which decorated the east end above the entrance of the Doric temple, thought to have been dedicated to Apollo. Three of the metopes, with reliefs of mythological scenes, as well as four triglyphs and other parts of the entablature, are wonderfully displayed in the Palermo museum. The pediment, only fragments of which have survived, was decorated by an emormous polychrome terracotta Gorgoneion mask.

One of three similar, well-preserved portable altars with reliefs of extraordinarily fine quality, discovered with fragments of others at the Bosco Littorio archaeological site in December 1999, during excavations by Lavinia Sole under the direction of Sopraintendente Rosalbe Panvini. The relief on one of the other two altars depicts Eos abducting Kephalos, and the third is thought to represent Demeter, Persephone and Hekate or Aphrodite. All three altars are exhibited in the excellent Gela museum.These light-weight altars, probably made in the same workshop, had apparently never been used, and may have been made for sale or export to customers who for some reason never received them. The site at the Bosco Littorio, on the coast of Gela, south of the acropolis (Lindioi) and west of the mouth of the Gelas river, is thought to have been an emporium due to finds of objects related to trade, including transport amphorae and imported vessels from Attica and Chalcis (Euboea) in Greece. The buildings at the site have been dated to the early 6th to early 5th centuries BC, and the altars appear to have been abandoned there around 480 BC, when the buildings of the area were violently burnt and destroyed.The bodies of the altars, made of clay slabs, are hollow and perforated by large holes (see photo, right), making them lighter and easier to transport. These are among several portable altars found in Sicily (see, for example, the portable altar from Selinunte above). The reliefs, which were made separately then attached to the bodies before firing, were originally highly coloured, with red used as a background colour, and a yellow pigment which became almost vitrified (glass-like) during firing.The almost life-size figure of Medusa is made of pink clay and has a highly polished finish. Although the strong, flat colours of the Gorgon plaque in Syracuse (above) have immediate appeal and fascination, the plasticity of this figure lends it a powerful physical presence which may have been enhanced or diminished by the addition of paint. In contrast to the bulky, muscular Gorgon (particularly the thighs), the figures of Pegasus and Chrysaor appear thin and less convincing. Below Medusa's right shin is one of her ankle wings in the form of a concave disc with a semi-circular curve cut out of the top left.It is not known for which deity sacrifices would have been made at this altar, but it is thought that the figures on this and the other two altars from the Bosco Littorio were in some way associated with fertility, birth and rebirth. On her death Medusa gave birth to Pegasus and Chrysaor, and Ovid wrote that the Gorgon's blood falling on the sands of the Libyan desert gave birth to snakes (see above). It has been suggested that Medusa, or sacrificial blood, may have thus been associated with these three phenomena.See: Dirk Booms and Peter Higgs, Sicily: Culture and Conquest, exhibition catalogue, pages 58-62. The British Museum, London, 2016.The archaeological site at the Bosco Littorio is not usually open to the public, but is sporadically opened on special occasions.See also some Gorgoneion antefixes from Gela below.

The rear and left side of the altar,showing the holes in the clay slabswhich form the hollow body. Thisconstruction method made thealtar lighter and easier to transport.

Pegasus and Chrysaor on the altar relief in Gela. Medusa tightens her belt ofsnakes, which here appear to protect her children. Pegasus' snout nuzzles her
right breast, while Chrysaor's right arm and hand are attached to her left breast.

Only two fragments of the ceramic figure have survived. The upper fragment represents Medusa's lion-mask head and part of her slim-waisted upper torso. Each of her hands grasp a snake, decorated with dark blue dots, which she wears like a scarf around her shoulders, the ends twisted together. Her belt also appears to be a snake (or snakes).The lower fragment is in the form of the front of a horse with raised forelegs. Part of the Gorgon's right leg can be seen hugging the side of its body. The rectangular base has a chequered pattern painted on the front.This is the only ancient object I know of with a Gorgon riding Pegasus. As with the ceramic relief of Medusa with Pegasus above, depictions of Medusa with her children are rare, presumably since the myths relate that they were born after she had been killed by Perseus. Her association with horses was suggested in the first known depictions of her, the earliest of which is on a amphora found in Thebes, dated to around 670 BC, where she is represented as a female centaur [12].So far I have found no literature with further information about this object.
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A semi-circular gold plate riveted onto a bronze plaque, with arelief of a running/flying Gorgon holding a snake in each hand.One of two similar plaques found in Delphi, among several objects
associated with a chryselephantine statue of a female figure, probablyArtemis. They may have been fibulae, attached to the statue's dress
at the shoulders. The Gorgon's head is truly "horrid" and beast-like.From a workshop in East Greece (Ionia), probably Samos. 6th century BC.Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece.

Fragments of an Archaic marble statue of the winged Gorgon Medusa, reconstructedas an akroterion (roof decoration) on the gable of a temple. It is thought that the
statue was set up above the entrance to the pre-Parthenon Athena temple
of the Athens Acropolis known as the Hekatompedon, built around 575-550 BC.Reconstruction in the Old Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. Acr. 701.

The reconstructed figure in the photo above used to be a prize exhibit in the Old Acropolis Museum until 2007, but may no longer exist in the new museum. Recent photos show the fragments of the Gorgon separately, and there is no mention of the reconstruction as an exhibit in the offical guide book, the museum's website or other recent publications. [14]The story of the reconstruction may be remarkable (although not necessarily unusual), but the few mentions of it by historians and archaeologists are brief and vague.A number of marble sculptural fragments were found in December 1888, southwest of the Parthenon. The well-executed, life-size head was evidently that of a Gorgon of the lion-mask type. A second fragment, with traces of paint, is not so well sculpted or detailed, and depicts what appears to be a belt with a Herakles knot, grasped by two hands, over one of which is part of a snake. Another fragment has parts of toes from a right foot attached to part of a slightly concave base with a low chequered relief. The marble was first thought to be Pentelic, but is now considered to be Hymettian.Marble head of Medusa. Inv. No. Acr. 701.Life-size. Height 28.6 cm, width 19.6 cm.Marble belt fragment. Inv. No. 3798.Width 25 cm.Marble foot fragment. Inv. No. 3618.On part of a broken baseplate,height 15 cm, width 22 cm, depth 5 cm.The oval shaped head of the Gorgon is shown frontally. The hair over the forehead is arranged in neat, scalloped waves parted at the centre. Above this is a taneia (band), and the top of the head is covered by a regular chequered pattern relief. The eyes, with incised pupils, are set deep beneath ridged brows and above full, rounded cheeks. The nose is wrinkled by four horizontal grooves. The wide, grimacing mouth has ridged lips, upper and lower fangs at each end, among regular rows of teeth, and a flat, tongue potruding over a broad chin. The ears are placed high, flat against the sides of the head.The style and carving technique of the head have been compared to those of the famous "Moschophoros" (Calf Bearer) statue from the Athens Acropolis, which has been dated to around 570 BC (see photo, below right).During the mid to late 19th century archaeological excavation on and around the Acropolis was at its most intensive phase, with the discovery of an enormous number of artefacts and fragments. Sorting, conserving, storing, examining and analysing the objects were enormous tasks, and many still await detailed study.Archaeologists were eager to trace the history and evolution of the Acropolis and identify the remains of ancient buildings and monuments, some of which had survived only as architectural fragments or traces of foundations. To a great extent they had to rely on mentions of them by ancient authors, and several conflicting theories developed, some of which remain subjects of debate.Two monumental temples of Athena were thought to have been built on the Acropolis during the Archaic period, before the Classical Parthenon, the identification and history of which are still being debated. The first may have been the temple referred to by ancient authors as the Hecatompedon (ἑκατόμπεδος, Hekatompedos, hundred-footer), so named because of its length of 100 Attic feet (32.8 metres). It has been also referred to by modern historians as the "Parthenon I", "UrParthenon" (primal Parthenon), "Bluebeard temple" or, less romantically, "Building H". It is thought to have been built around 570–550 BC, and has been associated with the establishment of the Great Panathenaia festival in 566/565 BC, during the archonship of Hippokleides. Several sculptures from this temple are now in the Acropolis Museum.The first temple was replaced by the "Pre-Parthenon" or "Parthenon 2", which was under construction around 488-480 BC, but had not been completed when it was destroyed during the Persian invasion of 480/479 BC.The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1853-1940) took a particular interest in the pre-Parthenon temples of Athena, and excavated the foundation of a building he believed was the Hekatompedon, beneath the Parthenon. The foundation was named the "Dörpfeld foundation" (or "Dörpfeld temple") after him. [15]Meanwhile, the Gorgon fragments had been placed in the recently-built Acropolis Museum (the old museum on the Acropolis, completed 1874, with an extension built in 1888). It seems no connection had been made between them, and the two largest (the head and belt) were kept on different shelves. [16]The German archaeologist Johann (Hans) Hermann Schrader (1869-1948), working on the excavations at the Acropolis under Dörpfeld, had been given the task of processing sculptural finds. Based on a handful of small, apparently disparate fragments and the conclusions of other archaeologists (Dörpfeld, Theodor Wiegand) he set about attempting to reconstruct the Gorgon and a lion (or leopard) as part of the gable end of the roof of the Hekatompedon. [17] The result of his work is the reconstruction above, showing a running/flying Gorgon in the kneeling position, on the apex of the gabled roof (see Shrader's drawing below).His bold efforts received encouragement from colleagues at the time [18], and the reconstruction was evidently considered convincing enough to have been exhibited in the museum for many decades. Although there appear to have been no published criticisms of the piece, it is notable that it has ignored by several books on the Acropolis and the museum. Such adventurous reconstructions of ancient sculptures had been de rigeur since the Renaissance, especially in Italy. However, by the end of the 19th century they were frowned upon by more scientific archaeologists, and mostly avoided in Athens.

The head and belt fragments of thereconstructed Gorgon akroterion.

The head of the Acropolis Gorgon.Acropolis Museum, Athens.Inv. No. Acr. 701.

Fragment of a painted terracotta figure of a Gorgonfrom Megara Hyblaea, Sicily. Circa 500 BC.The top part of a Gorgon figure with a Daedelic hairstyle. Her hands grasp
a belt in the same way as the "Hekatompedon" Gorgon above. The holeunder her right arm suggests that it was part of a plaque nailed to a building.Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum, Syracuse, Sicily.

A modern ceramic pinax (plaque) with a relief of Medusa (right), made from an ancient mould (left).Second half of the 6th century BC. From Akragas (Ἀκράγας, today Agrigento), Sicily.Three of the Gorgon's four sickle shaped wings are visible. The figure has
a "lion-mask" head, a short chiton and winged boots, and runs/flies in the"Knielauf" position. As in the "Hekatompedon" Gorgon and the Megara
Hyblaea figure above, both her hands grasp a belt made of snakes.Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, Syracuse, Sicily. Inv. No. 48096.

Another Medusa pinax relief from an ancient mould from Akragas, Sicily. 6th century BC.The moulds were found during excavations directed by Pirro Marconi and Pietro Griffo
in and around the Sanctuary of the Chthonic Deities (underworld gods), where tracesof kilns from pottery workshops connected with the sacred area were discovered.Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum. Inv. No S 16.

The stele, often referred to as the "Gorgon Stele", was found in 1905 in Kerameikos, built into the Themistoklean Wall. The main panel depicts the full figure of a slim, young doryphoros (probably a warrior) in profile, facing right. The Gorgon is in the register below. The figures had been hammered before being fitted into the wall. It is displayed in the museum next to a plaster cast (photo, right), restored with a capital and a crouching sphinx on top.A number of such tall, slim Archaic grave steles are known to have been made in Athens and Attica around 600-530 BC, and at other places such as Thessaly. One of the best preserved, the "Brother and Sister stele", also topped with a sphinx, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [19]. Part of another 6th century BC Attic marble stele, dated to circa 550–525 BC, in the Metropolitan, known as the "Kalliades Stele", also shows a running/flying Gorgon [20]. The sphinxes, lions, Gorgons and (later) sirens on the steles are thought to have been apotropaic protectors of the graves, perhaps reflecting the Egyptian tradition.The Gorgon has been very carefully sculpted, with fine detailing. The thickly braided hair is reminiscent of earlier artworks of the "Daedalic Period" (650-600 BC), but the anatomical details and modelling are now much more sophisticated.The figure, in the "Knielauf" position, wears a short chiton (tunic) covered with a geometrical pattern, and the bands around the collar and short sleeves are decorated with continuous spiralling (see drawings, right). The body is muscular, with the thick thighs typical of Archaic sculpture, particularly of depictions of Medusa, and the artist has made an effort to show the weight and forms of flesh, muscle and bone. The feathers of the upraised, sickle-shaped wings are separated by ridged contours.The face of the Gorgon is missing, but she probably had the usual "lion mask" features shown on other depictions of her from the late Archaic and early Classical periods, as on the coins and the head of Medusa from the Athens Acropolis above, and on the "Kalliades Stele".

A bronze Gorgoneion (Gorgon's head), probably a device on the shield
of a statuette of Athena. From the Athens Acropolis, late 6th century BC.National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. NAMA 6509.

Bronze Gorgon's head, probably from a shield of a statuette of Athena
or a bronze vessel. From the Athens Acropolis, late 6th century BC.Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. NAMA 6510.(Previously in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens)

Ceramic lekanis (bowl) with a Gorgon head, surrounded by a frieze of deer,lions, sphinxes and a siren. outside decorated by a continuous frieze of
animals and sirens, with spaces filled by rosettes, as on the inside.Early Corinthian, around 610-590 BC. Attributed to the Medallion Painter,
one of the leading artists of the Gorgoneion Group. From Kamiros, Rhodes.Height 8.6 cm, width 36.2 cm, weight 1.19 kg.British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1861.4-25.46. Purchased in 1861For further information about lekanides and lekanai, see the note on the Dioskouroi page.

Painted Gorgoneion antefix from the Sanctuary of Chthonic Deities,Akragas (Agrigento), Sicily. End of the 6th century BC.One of a number of antefixes discovered duringexcavations at the sanctuary in 1953-1955.Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily.

An antefix is an ornamental plaque covering the end of a roof tile (kalypter) which covered the lower edge of a wooden framed roof or the apex of a gable (sima) of a temple, mostly during the Archaic period. Rows of such antefixes, usually in the form of heads (often referred to as protomes [21]) of mythical figures, often decorated the sides of roofs. Antefixes covering apex tiles were usually larger.The technique is thought to have been invented in Corinth, and was used on several temples in Sicily, where Gorgoneions were among the most common antefix motifs.The antefixes and tiles below show a wide variety on the Gorgon theme, and artists around the Greek world - Ionia (West Greece), Thrace, Magna Graecia (Italy) and Sicily - depicted her in very different ways between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. Although there was a general tendency towards less hideous and more attractive Gorgons, the Archaic types continued into the 4th century BC, as can be seen from an Archaistic Gorgon antefix from Gela below.With the development of architecture from the Classical period (5th - 4th century BC) and the replacement of wood and ceramics with stone, including stone roof tiles, antefixes gradually ceased to be employed. Rows of decorative stone heads (similar to gargoyles), often of lions, continued to be used as water spouts on the edges of roofs (eaves or sima) along the sides of temples and other buildings.

The ancient Thracian city of Oesyme (Οίσύμη) was located on the North Aegean coast, near the modern settlement of Nea Peramos, just to the west of Kavala (ancient Neapolis), opposite the island of Thasos. It was mentioned by Homer (The Iliad, Book 8, lines 253-343) as Aisyme (Αίσύμη), the birthplace of Kastianeira, one of the wives of King Priam of Troy.In the second half of the 7th century BC it became one of the coastal colonies of Thasos and part of the Thasian Peraia. The city's acropolis was on a fortified hill and had an Archaic temple, perhaps dedicated to Athena, which was replaced in the early 5th century BC. Oesyme also had a sanctuary dedicated to the nymphs. Following the conquest of the city by Philip II of Macedonia around 350 BC, it was renamed Emathia (Ημαθία), after the ancient name for Macedonia and its mythical founder hero.The features of this round-headed Gorgoneion are in the style favoured around the Aegean and at Athens during the mid 6th to 5th century BC (see, for example, the "Hekatompedon" Gorgon and the coins from Lesbos and Athens above). Very few Gorgons as architectural decoration from the Archaic or Classical periods have been found in the Macedonian and Thracian areas of northern Greece, and it appears that the Gorgon theme generally may not have been so popular here as in other parts of Greece, Italy and Sicily.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "horrid type", with traces of colour.6th century BC. From the southern sanctuary of Poseidonia (today Paestum).National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

One of a number of Gorgoneion antefixes found in the southern sanctuary of Poseidonia. They are thought to have decorated smaller temples and thesauri (θησαυροί, plural of thesauros, θησαυρός, treasury, storehouse) built soon after the foundation of the city.Five of the antefixes are exhibited in the Paestum museum. Each is of a different form and type, and the museum label suggests that they are displayed more-or-less in chronological order (see the other four in the photos below). The depictions of the Gorgon are successively less horrid.Poseidonia, (Ποσειδωνία) in Magna Graecia (on the west coast of southern Italy) was founded around 600 BC by Greek colonists from either Sybaris (Σύβαρις, Gulf of Taranto, founded by Achaeans and Troezenians in 720 BC) or Troezen (Τροιζήν, Argolid Peninsula, northeastern Peloponnese), or perhaps by Achaeans and Troezenians together. The city was renamed Paistos by the Lucanians who conquered it at the end of the 5th century BC, and later Paestum by the Romans who took over in 273 BC.

A modern reproduction of the Gorgoneion antefix above, with restoredcolours, displayed in the Paestum museum for educational purposes.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

The second terracotta Gorgoneion antefix in the Paestum museum.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

The third terracotta Gorgoneion antefix in the Paestum museum.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

The fourth terracotta Gorgoneion antefix in the Paestum museum.This is the only intact antefix, and it is still attached to the tile.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

The fifth terracotta Gorgoneion antefix in the Paestum museum.This antefix is around twice the size of the other four. The round,
plate-like frame has been restored, but enough of the colour hassurvived to give an impression of the antefix's original appearance.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix from the area of Temple C,on the acropolis of the Greek colony of Selinous (Σελινοῦς;today Selinunte), on the southwestern coast of Sicily.One of several Gorgon antefixes of various styles connected withdifferent phases of construction on the acropolis from around 540 BC.Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, Palermo, Sicily.

Part of a terracotta Gorgoneion antefix from the necropolis of Randazzo,in the valley of the Alcantara river, Catania province, Sicily.Among artefacts, dating from the 6th to 3rd centuries BC,excavated 1889-1890 by Antonino Salinas. The ancient Greek city
to which the necropolis belonged has not yet been identified.Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, Palermo, Sicily.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "horrid type".2nd half of the 6th century BC. One of two identical antefixes (from the same mould)
discovered at the site of a small temple in the residential area of Monte Bubbonia,20 km north of Gela. Both have been restored, though this one is better preserved.The site on Monte Bubbonia may be Maktorion (Μακτώριον), mentioned byHerodotus (The Histories, Book 7, chapter 153) as "a city above Gela".
It is thought to have been inhabited by Greek and native Sicilian Sicians.Gela Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily, Italy.

A painted terracotta Gorgoneion antefix.6th century BC. From Scalo Ferroviario, Gela.A remarkable and unusual Gorgon antefix, for its time finely modelled
and coloured. Not quite the "horrid type" (most of the Gorgons fromGela not are truly horrid), but not yet of the "beautiful type". Next to the
head is some sort of note of authentication with an official wax stamp.Gela Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily, Italy.

Terracotta Gorgoneion antefix (decorated end of a roof tile).Greek, around 500-450 BC. Found in the sea off the coast of Gela, Sicily.Height 50 cm, width 40 cm.Soprintendenza per i Beni culturali e ambientali del Mare, Palermo. Inv. No. 4237.Exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, during the
exhibition "Sicily and the sea", 16 June - 25 September 2016.

There are a number of antefixes of this type, known as "gorgone con krobylos", including three in Gela Archaeological Museum; the best preserved is Inv. No. 8411. All show the Gorgon wearing a wide, curved headdress or taenia (hairband) above rows of black curls and the elaborate krobylos (κρώβυλος) hairstyle popular during the Archaic period, as well as large round earrings with concentric circles.One fragment from Gela, on which the paint has been well preserved, shows the strong colours used, including "rouged" cheeks. [22] The face is quite human, although to the modern eye with something of a cartoon or clown character. There are no snakes, wrinkled nose or fangs, in fact the teeth are in perfectly even rows. The faded paint in this example suggest a faraway, distance look in the eyes, although the Gela fragment belies this illusion. However, this is not a glance that would petrify or even scare the viewer.Like the Gorgonians in the two photos further above, this type can not be accurately described as either "horrid" or "beautiful", and it appears to cross a boundary from the type immediately above into the realm of jolly, comical or even downright silly. Whatever the Sicilian Greeks of the Archaic period thought of gorgons, or however they considered depictions of them, it is difficult to imagine that they would have viewed such a figure with dread.

An Archaistic (imitating the Archaic style) Gorgoneion antefix, harking back tothe "horrid type". From the acropolis of Gela, Sicily. End of the 4th century BC.Gela Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily.

Terracotta Gorgoneion antefix. 6th - early 5th century BC.Excavated in the area of the railway station, Syracuse, Sicily.An unusually well modelled, three-dimensional depiction of Medusa,with a degree of realism heightened by the bold painting.Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, Syracuse. Inv. No. 84845.

Terracotta Gorgoneion from a temple building in the east ofthe ancient city of Naxos, Sicily. First half of the 5th century BC.Naxos was the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, founded on the eastside of the island in 734 BC by settlers from Chalcis in Euboea.Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, Syracuse.

Terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "horrid type" from Rubi (ancient Rhyps or Rhybasteion;today Ruvo di Puglia, Apulia, southern Italy). Made in Taranto about 490-470 BC.British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1875.6-15.1 (Terracotta 1251 bis).Semi-circular Gorgoneion antefixes, made in a mould and finished with a stick, were produced
at Taranto from the mid 6th to the 3rd century BC. One of the earliest surviving examples,made around 525-500 BC, is in the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Inv. No. 17580.

Fragment of a terracotta antefix with a Gorgoneion in a palmette.Roman Imperial period, 1st century AD. Found in 1936in Piazza Fontana, Milan (ancient Mediolanum).An unusual late example of a terracotta antefix with an Archaistic Gorgoneion.Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 0.9.28492.

Relief of a running/flying Gorgon on a locally made ceramic tile.From the area of the acropolis, Gela, Sicily. 6th century BC.Gela Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily.

Relief of a running/flying Gorgon on a ceramic tile from the Northern Sanctuaryof Paestum, Italy. Made in an East Greek (Ionian) workshop, 6th century BC.National Archaeological Museum of Paestum, Campania, Italy.

Painted Gorgoneions on the volutes of the handles of an Archaic Laconianblack-figure volute krater. 6th century BC. The painting on the neck depicts
a lion confronting a boar among birds and other animals.Gela Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily.

The krater (vessel for mixing wine and water) is a funerary vase. The painting on the body depicts the deceased woman, identified by her pale skin, holding a coffer and sitting in her funerary monument which is in the form of a naiskos (ναΐσκος, diminutive of ναός, temple). She is visited by two female figures holding gifts, including an alabastron (perfume bottle), a fan and bands.Each of the moulded Gorgon mascaroons has a white face, brown eyes and hair, and wears a white diadem (see photo below). Around the head are painted, snake-like locks. On the neck of the vessel a female head rises from a flower between symmetrically arranged tendrils. On each shoulder, between the bottom of the handles and the neck, is an attachment in the form of a black swan's head.A similar krater displayed next to it in the museum depicts a deceased young man, shown in heroic nudity with his horse, also in a naiskos. The form and iconography of both kraters are typical of the "Ornate Style" (also referred to as the "Rich Style") of south Italian red-figure vase painting, thought to have been developed by the Iliupersis Painter around 375-350 BC.

The pretty Gorgon mascaroon on the left-hand volute of the krater above.

Archaic flask in the form of a Gorgonbust with traces of colour.East Greece. 590-570 BC.Palazzo dei Conservatori, Capitoline Museums,Rome. Inv. No. 306.

Glass flask in the form of the head of Medusa.From Folkling, Moselle department, France.3rd century AD.Neues Museum, Berlin.

The Gorgon head on the handle of a bronze strainer.From Syracuse. Made in Sicily, perhaps in Syracuse, about 500 BC.The museum labelling states that the terminal of thestrainer shows the river god Acheloos, but it is almost
impossible to discern the figure on the corroded object.British Museum. Inv. No. GR.1851.8-13.100 (Bronze 574).From the Comarmond Collection.

Athena stands next to Perseus who holds the head of Medusa in
his left hand. In his right hand is a harpe (ἅρπη, a sickel-shaped
weapon) with which he decapitated the Gorgon. [23]Detail of an Attic red-figure calyx-krater, made in Athens about 460-450 BC.
From Kamarina (Καμάρινα), south coast of Sicily (Ragusa province).
Attributed to the Mykonos Painter. Height of krater 53 cm.Museo Civico, Castello Ursino, Catania, Sicily.Inv. No. 4399. From the Biscari Collection.
See: Beazley Archive Database, Vase No. 205773.

Perseus wears a petasos (broad-brimmed sun hat), a himation (cloak) and winged boots. To the left Athena, her hair in long, thick locks, holds a spear and wears a crested Attic helmet and the aegis over a long chiton. On the far left a draped female figure (Danae or a nymph?) sits on a rock. On the right a male figure with a crown and sceptre (Polydektes?) sits on a chair. This appears to be the scene in which Polydektes is turned to stone by the Gorgoneion on Seriphos. The head of Medusa appears to have Negroid characteristics, perhaps alluding to versions of the myth in which she was from north Africa. [5]The other side (Side B) shows a woman (Andromeda?), a draped male figure leaning on a staff, Poseidon and running Gorgons.See also an Etruscan statuette of Perseus holding Medusa's head and a sickle below.

Chrysaor and Pegasus are born from Medusa's neck.Perseus walks away with the kibisis containing Medusa's head.Low relief on one end of a limestone sarcophagus from Golgoi, Cyprus, 475–460 BC.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Inv. No. 74.51.2451.From the Cesnola Collection. Purchased by subscription, 1874–76.

The small figures of Chrysaor (Χρυσάωρ, Gold Blade) and Pegasus (Πηγασος, Of the Spring) emerge from the open neck of the decapitated Medusa. The kneeling Gorgon's body has four sickle-shaped wings and is dressed in a long chiton. Her arms are raised to assist the birth of her children. Perseus ignores the birth and walks away to the right with Medusa's head in the kibisis, which hangs behind him from a staff he carries over his shoulder. In his right hand he carries a harpe. The bearded hero wears a conical cap and a short tunic, and like Medusa, he is barefooted. A dog sitting in the centre of the scene watches Perseus' departure.Image Source: J. L. Myers, Sarcophagus from Golgoi, in Antiker Denkmaler Band III, 1909-1911, pages 3-4 and plates 5-6. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, 1926. At Heidelberg University Library.

The centre of an Attic black-figure plate painted by the Athenian vase painter Psiax,
540-510 BC, depicting a warrior. Found in the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.The bearded warrior, wearing a crested helmet, cuirass and greaves, strides
to the left, his spear held at head-height with the front pointed downwards.He carries a Boeotian shield, decorated with an aegis and Gorgoneion.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. F 2099.Beazley Archive Database No. 320364.

The Gorgoneion on the shield of a Achaean (Greek) warrior on a high reliefdepicting a battle with Trojans during the Trojan War (see Homer).Detail of the Archaic marble relief from the east side of the
frieze of the Siphnian Treasury, Delphi, built for the peopleof Siphnos around 525 BC (before 524 BC).Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece.

A Gorgoneion in the tondo of an Athenian black-figurekylix (κύλιξ, drinking cup), known as "the Bomford Cup".Around 550-501 BC. Height 12.5 - 13.8 cm, diameter 34.4 cm.Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Inv. No. AN 1974.344.Acquired in 1974 from the Bomford Collection.

The kylix was broken and skillfully repaired in antiquity, when cracks and damaged parts were painted over. It is thought that the Gorgon may have lost her fangs in the process.Around the tondo, six men recline outdoors at a symposium (drinking party). One of the revellers threatens a nude boy serving wine from an oinochoe (wine jug) with a sandal or slipper. Another plays an aulos (αὐλός, double pipes), and the figure in front (right) of him may be singing. Three of the men wear sakkoi (σάκκος, sackcloth; plural σάκκοι, sakkoi) and robes normally associated with women, a style of dress often referred to as Anakreontic, after the lyric poet Anakreon of Teos (Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος, circa 582-485 BC), famous for his songs celebrating love and wine. This and the threatening of the boy, as well as similar scenes on painted ceramics, have led to much speculation and debate concerning cross-dressing, effeminacy, homosexuality and pederasty in ancient Greek society. Other scholars maintain that the dress was merely part of the imitation by Athenian aristocrats of the luxurious "eastern" lifestyle of wealthy Ionians or Lydians, introduced to the Greek mainland around the time that Anakreon was in Athens.In the background above the symposiasts hangs a continuous grapevine, from which pieces of cloth are suspended, and two lyres. Although it has been suggested that the scene is taking place in a vineyard, it is just as likely that the vine is growing from the wall of a garden or courtyard of a house.It is an eye-cup, with pairs of eyes painted on each of the outer sides. Between each pair of eyes is the frontal head or mask of a satyr (see also an Attic black-figure neck amphora with a Dionysus mask between two large eyes). The foot of the cup is in the form of a phallus and testicles, and it is the most famous of the four known Attic cups with feet in the form of male genitals.The archaeologist Michael Vickers (at the time Assistant Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum) attributed the painting to the manner of the Andocides painter (employed in the workshop of the potter Andokides) and dated it to around 500 BC. However, the art historians John Boardman and Sir John Beazley attributed it to the manner of the Lysippides painter, shortly after 520 BC, based on the similarity of the satyrs with the satyr mask on an Attic eye-cup signed by the potter Nikosthenes (Νικοσθένης, active around 550-510 BC), now in the Louvre, Inv. No. F130. [24]

Detail of an Etruscan bucchero pesante oinochoe (wine jug) with an ovoid body,decorated all around with rows of naked dancers and Gorgoneions in relief.6th century BC. Height 50 cm, maximum diameter 23 cm, diameter of foot 18.8 cm.Etruscan Section, Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan.Inv. No. A 0.9.296. From the Seletti Collection.

The figures on the side of the oinochoe (οἰνοχόη) have been interpreted as dancers taking part in a sacred ritual dance, perhaps at a funeral, and the Gorgoneions probably had an apotropaic function.Many of the objects in the Etruscan Section of the Milan Archaeological Museum are from excavations at the cemeteries of the Etruscan city Caere (today Cerveteri), northwest of Rome, while others, such as this oinochoe, are from private collections. The provenance of this jug is unknown, but it is thought to have been produced in Chiusi (Siena), southeastern Etruria. It was owned by the Milanese lawyer and historian Emilio Seletti (1830-1913), who donated most of his collection to Milan's civic museums at the end of the 1900s.Bucchero (perhaps from the Spanish búcaro, or the Portuguese púcaro; derived from the Latin poculum, a drinking vessel) is the modern name given to Etruscan black ceramic ware with a glossy black surface, obtained by the reduction method of resticting oxygen in the kiln during firing. In the 6th century a variety of the bucchero type was developed, known as bucchero pesante or heavy bucchero. Such vessels had thicker walls, were often squatter and were decorated with reliefs, moulded separately and affixed to the still-damp clay before firing. The use of bucchero ware declined from the early 5th century BC due to the increasing popularity of imported Greek ceramics and then locally made vessels adapting new styles and techniques of pottery production and painting.This oinochoe (Ancient Greek, οἰνοχόη; from οἶνος, oinos, wine, and χέω, kheo, I pour; plural oinochoai or oenochoai) is of the type known as trefoil, due to the form of its mouth which resembles a three-lobed ivy leaf. The inside of the mouth, at the top of the handle and at each side, is decorated with three relief heads (protomes, see photo below and note 21).

The Etruscan oinochoe in the Milan museum.

One of the Gorgoneions on the oinochoe.

The protomes on the trefoil mouth of the Etruscan bucchero oinochoe in Milan.

Detail of an Etruscan black-figure neck amphora ("Round dance"), 525-500 BC,
by the Micali Painter, with dancing or running three-winged Gorgons, followed
by a winged male figure (Perseus?). All three figures also have winged ankles.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. V.I. 3226.Acquired from the Collection Ancona in 1892.

Detail of an Etruscan black-figure hydria, 530-500 BC, possibly by theMicali Painter, showing a Harpy, the Demon of Death, with a head similar
to that of a Gorgon. The four-winged Harpy, with the body of a bird, holdsa naked human figure by the wrist in each hand of her outstretched arms.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. F 2157. Acquired in 1834.

A bronze handle of a lid or dish, with Tritons and sleeping Gorgons (see detail below).Made in southern Italy, perhaps at Croton, around 500 BC.
One of a pair; the other is in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.British Museum. GR 1824.4-89.31 (Bronze 576).From Naples. Bequeathed by R. Payne Knight.

The sleeping Gorgons on the bronze handle above. The winged Gorgons alsohave wings on their ankles, and stretch out their arms to touch each other.

Gorgoneion on the tondo of a band cup fromSmyrna (today Izmir, Turkey). 6th century BC.Izmir Archaeological Museum, Turkey.

Gorgoneion as the tondo of a fragment of a kylix (drinking cup).5th century BC. Found in the area of an Ionic templein the Via Consiglio Regionale, Syracuse, Sicily.Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, Syracuse. Inv. No. 45673.

A pyxis (πυξίς; plural, Πυξίδες, pyxides; from πῠ́ξος, pyxos, boxwood), was a type of box with a separate lid, generally cylindrical and originally made of wood, but later made of metal or clay. Pyxides were used mainly by woman to hold cosmetics, toiletries, jewellery and other small objects. This example was found in "Tomba Reimers" (or Ipogeo Reimers), a chamber tomb at Canosa (Ancient Greek, Κανύσιον; Latin, Canosium; Italian, Canosa di Puglia), Apulia, southeast Italy, named after the businessman, painter and collector Johannes W. F. Reimers, who was present when the grave was discovered and purchased all the ceramic objects found there. After Reimers' death in 1913, the Hamburg museum, after some difficulty, managed to acquire his large collection of antiquities in 1917, including over 1500 Greek and Italic ceramic objects.Reimers appears to have travelled widely, built his collection with relatively modest means, and later displayed objects in his own museum. Considering the size and importance of his collection, surprisingly little has been written about him or the objects.

It is thought that other masks were also originally applied around the body of the vessel. An askos (ἀσκός, tube; plural, ἀσκοί, askoi) was originally a wineskin, but askoi were later made of metal or clay, often used for storing oil.Askoi of several types were made in Apulia around 350-300 BC, probably exclusively for use in graves. They were painted with water-soluble pigments (perhaps a mixture similar to tempera) in blue, pink/red, purple, yellow and brown, on a white background. Reliefs and three-dimensional figures (including Gorgoneions, Nikes, winged heads) were fired separately and fixed to the body with an adhesive made of a resin-like pitch. Some feature elaborate statuette-like figures on the top of the body or handles. The non-durable colouring and fragile attachments indicate that the vessels were not intended for practical use, and had a purely sacred decorative function.Although this askos is displayed in the same case as objects from the "Tomba Reimers" at Canosa (see above), the museum labelling does not state its age or provenance. The Gorgoneion is similar to those on a sphageion (σφαγείων, vessel for collecting blood during ritual sacrifices) with two Gorgoneions from Canosa, dated late 4th - early 3rd century BC, now in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

The head of Medusa in the centre of a mosaic floor fromthe Villa of Dionysos, Dion, Macedonia. 2nd century AD.Dion Archaeological Museum, Macedonia, Greece.

Detail of a mosaic floor found in 1892 in Zea, Piraeus. Made in the 2nd century AD,using the opus tessallatum technique. The winged head of Medusa in the central rondo
portays her as an attractive, blond, young woman with snakes in her hair. The mosaicalso features the popular geometric pattern of intersecting radial spirals and concentric
circles, defined by triangles. Like the image of Medusa, it is thought that the patternwas believed to have supernatural apotropaic properties (able to avert evil).National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

The head of Medusa with snakes, in the centre of a floor mosaic from Rome.1st - 2nd century AD. Found in the Via Ardeatina, near the church of S. Palombo, Rome.Baths of Diocletian, National Museum of Rome.
See also a small emblema with a bust of Dionysus from the same floor mosaic.

The head of Medusa in the centre of a floor mosaic from Rome.Roman Imperial period, end of the 1st - mid 2nd century AD.Found in 1939 in a necropolis, Rome.Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, National Museum of Rome. Inv. No. 125532.

The head of Medusa in the centre of a floor mosaic. From theLower City of Pergamon. Roman period, 3rd century AD.Bergama Archaeological Museum.

The head of Medusa in a polychrome emblema (panel) of a floor mosaicin one of the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. Roman period, 3rd century AD.Terrace House 2 (Hanghaus 2), Dwelling Unit 3, Room 16a.

The Gorgon's head is shown in the manner typical of the Roman era, with the tails of two snakes tied in a Herakles knot on her throat. The snake's bodies writhe around the sides of her winged head, and their heads appear above, facing each other. Medusa's round face is quite human, feminine and pretty. The x-shaped backgound has a pattern of grey scales, probably representing the aegis. The finely executed image has a black oval frame within a thinner black quadrilateral frame, surrounded by a large oblong mosaic area consisting of a black and white recurring pattern of intersecting circles.The image has been dated stylistically to the 3rd century AD, although some scholars have suggested the 2nd century and even the 5th century (Volker Michael Strocka and Werner Jobst). [25]In the same room, to the left (west) of this mosaic, is another of the same size and style with an emblema containing a bust of Dionysus.

Detail of a sarcophagus relief of Apollo,Athena/Minerva and the Muses.Left: Apollo of the Lykeios type with kithara and griffin (?).Centre: Athena/Minerva wearingCorinthian helmet and Gorgoneion.Right: A muse with a kithara.Marble. From the Via Appia, Rome, around 200 AD.Altes Museum. Berlin. Inv. No. Sk 844.

Detail of a greave (leg armour) from a bronze statueof a mounted warrior, with the head of a pretty,jolly-looking Gorgon on the knee.Made in Taranto, southern Italy, around 470-450 BC.British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1886.3-24.1 (Bronze 265).Barone and Piot collections.

A bronze vambrace, armour for a rightforearm, with a Gorgoneion on the elbow.Around 550 BC. From the Olympia, Greece.A votive offering, probably war booty.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. Misc. 6402.Acquired from the Komnos Collection, 1874.

The Gorgoneion is one of four attachments which originally decorated sides of the helmet.A pilos (πῖλος, felt; Latin, pileus, pilleus or pilleum) was a conical cap, probably made of felt or leather, often shown worn by men in ancient Greek and Roman art, particularly in depictions of the Dioskouroi, Hephaistos and Odysseus. It is thought that the pilos helmet was developed from the hat in the 5th century BC in Sparta. During the same century the helmet became popular among infantry soldiers in other Greek city states. An Attic funerary stele of around 410 BC shows two Athenian soldiers wearing pilos helmets (see Thucydides).Many of the artefacts in the Milan museum were donated or purchased from various private collections, and their provenance is unknown.

Athena wearing the aegis and Gorgoneion on an Etruscan ceramic high reliefdepicting two episodes from the Greek myth of The Seven against Thebes.From the rear pediment of Temple A of the sanctuary of the Etruscan goddess
Uni (equivalent of the Roman goddess Juno, Greek Hera and PhoenicianAstarte) at Pyrgi, the port of Caere (today Cerveteri), Latium. 470-460 BC.National Etruscan Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome.

Bronze statuette of the Etruscan goddessMenvra, modelled on Greek figures of PallasAthena, or Palladion, with raised spear andshield and wearing the aegis. The helmet,
similar in form to the Attic helmet on Greekcopies of the Athena Parthenos statue
by Pheidias, is shown with the cheek flapsraised. Unusually, the goddess is barefoot,lacking the usual sandals.From Apiro, Italy. 4th century BC.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. Fr. 2176.

Bronze statuette of Menvra wearingthe aegis and Gorgoneion. The headof the Gorgon is as large as that ofthe goddess. Her right rather thanleft leg is bent. The handle in her
left hand and spigot on the forearmindicate where a shield wasattached to the figure.From central Italy. Circa 500 BC.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. Fr. 2178.

A cast bronze roundel of Athena Promachos, wearing a sleeveless peplos, fastenedat the right shoulder with a round fibula, a helmet in the form of Medusa's head,
and the aegis with a snake on the border over her left shoulder. Her rightarm is raised as if about to throw a spear, as in statues of Athena Promachos.A decoration from a formal chariot used for parades, perhaps belonging to a wealthy
hetairos (royal officer) or a member of the Macedonian royal family. Possibly froma workshop in Delos. Hellenistic, first half of the 2nd century BC. Diameter 27 cm.Excavated on Kyprion Agoniston Square, Thessaloniki, during a rescue dig
in a Hellenistic public building, possibly the palace of the Macedonian kings.Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 17540.

Female dancers around Palladion, 1-50 AD.Athena/Minerva in the pose of Palladion with raised spear and shield, wearing a helmet, aegis
and Gorgoneion. A "Campana plate": colourfully painted ceramic reliefs depicting scenes frommythology and daily life which decorated the interior and exterior walls of sacred, public and
private buildings from the mid 1st century BC until the first half of the 2nd century AD. [26]"But there came a phantom, as it seemed to us onlookers,of Pallas, with plumed helm, brandishing a spear."Euripides, Heracles, lines 1002-1003.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. TC559. Acquired in 1696 from the Bellori Collection.

Palladion wearing the aegis and Gorgoneion on the Campana plate above.

Detail of a marble statue of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet,with the aegis and a winged Gorgoneion on her breast.2nd century AD.National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No. 6321. Farnese Collection.

The Gorgoneion and snakes of the aegis on the statue of Athena above.

A Gorgoneion with protruding tongue on the crossed band ofa caryatid (or kistephoros) from the facade of the Lesser Propylaia
of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis (see Demeter).Pentelic Marble. Circa 50 BC. Height 209 cm.Eleusis Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 5104.The other, not so well preserved caryatid was taken from Eleusis
in 1801 by Edward Daniel Clarke, who in 1865 donated it tothe Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Inv. No. GR.1.1865. [27]

Alexander the Great wearing the Gorgoneion on the breastplate of his linothorax
(armour made of layered and stiffened linen). Detail of the "Alexander Mosaic"
depicting Alexander fighting the Persian king Darius III at either the Battle of Issosin 333 BC or the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Thought to be based on a lost painting.Floor mosaic, made using the opus vermiculatum (Latin, worm-like work) technique of local
stone and some glass tesserae. 125-120 BC. Found in the House of the Faun, Pompeii.National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No. 10020.See more photos and information about this mosaic on
the Alexander the Great page of the MFP People section.

Detail of a marble statue of Emperor Hadrian (reigned117-138 AD) wearing a cuirass with the Gorgoneion.From the agora of Thasos, Greece. 130 AD.Thasos Archaeological Museum.

Jolly-looking Gorgon on thebreastplate of the statueof Marcus Aurelius.

Detail of a marble statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (jointemperor 161-180 AD) wearing a cuirass with the Gorgoneion.From Italy. The head and body of the much restored sculpture are from
separate statues. The body, 50-80 AD, was found near Tivoli. The head,of the second type of portrait of Marcus Aurelius, is dated to 150 AD.Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. Sk 368. Acquired in 1761.

A not-so-hideous Gorgoneion on the aeigis of a marble statue, perhaps depicting a Roman emperor,
now headless and unidentifiable. The work is a replica of a Hellenistic statue of Alexander the Great,
known as the "Alexander Aigiochos", which was probably from Alexandria.From Thessaloniki. Roman Imperial period, 117-138 AD.Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum.

A handle attachment of a bronze situla (used for mixingwine and water at banquets) in the form of a Gorgoneion.From a cist grave in Dangli Street, Stavroupolis, Thessaloniki.Late 5th - early 4th century BC.Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. MΘ 5124.

One of a number of gilded terracotta discs with Gorgonheads, excavated from Tomb C, Sedes (ancient Thermi),Macedonia Greece. 320-300 BC.The discs were originally sewn onto fabric and depositedas grave offerings. Similar golded discs have been found
at other locations in Macedonia, such as Veria (see below).Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum.Inv. No. MΘ 5536-5538.

Colossal marble head, thought to be a Gorgoneion,dated to the first half of the 2nd century BC, at the entranceto the Veria Archaeological Museum, Macedonia, Greece.The largest Gorgon head found in Greece, thought to have been attached to the northern
defensive walls of ancient Veria (Βέροια) as an apotropaic symbol to scare off attackers.
The features of the head, particularly the hairstyle, resemble those of Alexander the Great.

Black-glaze pyxis decorated in the "West Slope" style, with a Gorgoneion relief.Found among grave offerings of the rock cut chamber tomb on the Spanos Plot,
in the ancient necropolis of Veria, Macedonia. 2nd century BC.Veria Archaeological Museum, Macedonia, Greece. Inv. No. Π 2379.

A gold hairnet with a tondo showing the head of Gorgon Medusa.From Akragas (Agrigento), Sicily. 3rd century BC.Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily.

A relief of a figure which has been interpreted as the Gorgon Medusa on a marble
lunette panel above the doorway to the "Temple of Hadrian" in Ephesus, built 130 AD.The naked female figure with wavy, snake-like hair, is visible to the top of her thighs.
She stands with her arms outstreched in the stem of a fabulous plant, the branchesof which spiral out symmetrically to either side of her.Kuretes Street, Ephesus archaeological site, Selçuk, Turkey.

A Gorgoneion relief of the "beautiful type" on the facade
of the Library of Celsus, Ephesus, completed around 135 AD.

The library's highly ornate facade has four projecting roofed porch areas (aediculae or tabernacles) on the ground floor, each supported by two columns with composite capitals (a mixture of Ionic and Corinthian elements). The porch roofs in turn support the Corinthian columns of three roofed areas on the first floor (see photos on Ephesus gallery page 30). The pediments of the upper porches each has a tympanum decorated with a relief of a Gorgoneion flanked by floral and spiral tendril motifs, and framed along the top by an egg and dart motif.This Gorgoneion tympanum is on the left-hand (south) pediment. That it is a modern copy is made evident by the contrast to the original white marble fragment fitted into the pediment during the reconstruction of the facade in 1970-1978 (see photo below). The fragmentary reliefs of the other two pediments appear to be original but less complete.The original tympanum is now in the Ephesos Museum of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Inv. No. Antikensammlung, I 1632 (at present not on display).Height 67 cm, width 172 cm, depth 63.5 cm.See www.khm.at/de/object/0e7e392d9c/ (in German)See also a photo of the original pediment by Andreas Praefcke on Wikipedia Commons.

Close-up of the Gorgoneion tympanum on the facade of the Library of Celsus above.

Relief head of Medusa of the "beautiful type" on a marble console (corbel).Excavated in 1904 by Paul Augustin Gaudin at the Baths of Hadrian,Aphrodisias (Ἀφροδισιάς), Caria (western Turkey). 2nd century AD.Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 2279. Cat. Mendel 497.

Marble relief of a colossal winged head of Medusa at the Sanctuary of Apollo,Didyma (Δίδυμα), Ionia (today Didim, Aydin Province, Turkey). 2nd century AD.

The Sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma was a pre-Greek oracle, taken over by Ionic Greek colonists of the nearby city of Miletus at the beginning of the first millenium BC, and dedicated to Apollo as Didymeus (Διδυμευς). A sacred way lined with monuments connected the oracle to the city, 10 km to the north. The Archaic temple, which housed the oracle, was built around the late 8th - early 7th century BC, and was destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC.The building of the enormous new Ionic temple was inaugurated by Alexander the Great, following his conquest of Ionia in 334 BC, and the oracle proclaimed him as the son of Zeus in 331 BC. (Alexander also dedicated the temple of Athena Polias in Priene in 334 BC.) However, construction appears not to have got underway until about 300 BC, during the rule of Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid Empire. According to Vitruvius (On architecture, Book 7, Introduction, section 16), the architects were Paeonios of Ephesus and Daphnis of Miletus. The marble was quarried at nearby Lake Bafa (Bafa Gölü).Building work at the sanctuary continued intermittently for several centuries, until about 200 AD, as can be seen from the differing styles of various sculptural elements. However, the temple was never completed, a fact noted by Pausanias (Description of Greece, Book 7, chapter 5, section 4), and a number of infinished columns can still be seen at the site.The two marble blocks with heads of Medusa on this page (see the other below) are the best preserved of several on display at the archaeological site. The blocks formed a frieze on the architrave of the temple, as symbolic protection for the secretive oracle within. They have been dated stylistically to around the time of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD). The quality and style of carving on the blocks are markedly different, indicating that they were made by different artists, perhaps some time apart.The Gorgoneions are generally in the style popular during the Roman Imperial period, often shown on sarcophagi. The oval shaped heads are winged and have thick, wavy hair, falling as a fringe over the forehead and to the sides as long locks. The tails of two snakes around the neck are tied in a Herakles knot at the throat. The eyebrows are thick and prominent, and those of the head above, and the Gorgoneion from Aphrodisias further above, are creased as if she is frowning; although they are of the "beautiful type", they appear quite masculine.

Another of several marble reliefs of colossal winged heads of Medusaon display at the Sanctuary of Apollo, Didyma. Circa 100-200 AD.

One of the two colossal marble blocks with reliefs of Gorgon headsreused as column bases in the Byzantine Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.

The enormous, 9,800 square metre underground Basilica Cistern (known in Turkish as Yerebatan Serayi, Sunken Palace, or Yerebatan Sarniçi, Sunken Cistern) was built around 532-542 AD (after the Nika Riots of 532 AD) by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565 AD) to provide water for the Great Palace and nearby buildings. The cistern was mentioned by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (Buildings, Book I, chapter 11, sections 10-15). It may have replaced an earlier cistern at this location.Much of the building material was taken from older monuments which had presumably been destroyed by the time of Justinian. The ceiling, over 8 metres high, is supported by 336 columns of various types and sizes, including 98 with acanthus capitals. Many of the columns are thought to have come from the Great Nymphaeum (Nymphaeum Maius) in the Forum of Theodosius, commissioned in the second half of the 4th century by the urban prefect Clearchus, who in 373 inaugurated the Valens Aqueduct which supplied water to the nymphaeum. One of the columns in the cistern (photo, right) has peacock-eye shaped reliefs on the shaft similar to column fragments found at the site of the Forum of Theodosius.The Medusa blocks are made of Proconnesian marble from the nearby Sea of Marmara. The head in the photo above has been set upside down, while the other is placed on its side (see photo below). It has been suggested that this was to negate the terrible power of the Gorgon's gaze. The Christians of Constantinople may have considered it quite appropriate to banish the pagan monster heads to the dark underworld of the cistern. More probably, the blocks were simply turned to fit to the height required. The difficulty the builders had in fitting the blocks and the columns can be seen in the roughly finished stone slabs wedged between the tops of the blocks and bottoms of the column bases. The rectangular bases are intricately carved with egg-and-dart reliefs, suggesting that they were originally parts of a grand monumental building.The original location of the two redeployed Medusa blocks and the possible reasons for their use in the cistern are questions which have been much debated since they were uncovered from beneath tons of mud and rubble during extensive restoration work in the 1980s.A very similar marble block with a Gorgoneion relief on either side was discovered in the area of the Forum of Constantine (see photo below), and in 1916 was moved to the inner courtyard of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, where it still stands today. According to a recent theory, the blocks in the cistern are two halves of the keystone of one of two entrance arches to the forum, the block at the museum being the keystone of the other arch.

See:Anthony Kaldellis, The Forum of Constantine in Constantinople: What do we know about its original architecture and adornment? Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 56 (2016), pages 714–739.

A column in the Basilica Cisternwith "peacock-eye" decoration,also referred to as hen's eye orteardrop (German, Tränendekor),perhaps representing a stylized
trunk of a cypress tree, associatedwith the club of Herakles.Part of another column of this typestands in the inner courtyard of theIstanbul Archaeological Museum.Inv. No. 4568.

The other marble block with a relief of Medusa's head, this one placedon its side in the damp gloom of the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.

A marble block with a colossal Gorgoneion relief on either side.Discovered in the area of the Forum of Constantine in Istanbul,and thought to be a keystone of one of two entrance arches.Moved to the courtyard of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in 1916.

A large marble sarcophagus decorated all around with reliefs of Gorgoneions andgarlands supported by Erotes (figures of Eros), and heads of Pan at each corner.See a photo of one of the heads of Pan on the Pan page.From Byzantium (Istanbul). Roman Imperial period, 2nd century AD.Height 243 cm, width 342 cm, depth 170.5 cm.In the courtyard of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 513.Acquired by the museum in 1880.

A winged head of Medusa (Gorgoneion) on the left side of the sarcophagus above.

A Gorgoneion on the end of a marble sarchophagus from Sardis. Roman Period.Izmir Museum of History and Art.

A winged Gorgoneion with wild hair on a marble sarchophagus from Ephesus. Roman Period.Izmir Archaeological Museum.

A relief of a Gorgoneion of the "beautiful type" on the frontof a marble sarchophagus from Ephesus. Roman Period.Outside the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, Selçuk, Turkey. Inv. No. 4/4/74.

The Gorgoneion is in the centre, flanked by busts of a mature woman (left) and bearded man. Below each figure is a garland (or swag) of fruit and flowers, hung with a bunch of grapes and a vine leaf, and fastened to the next garland with ribbons tied with bows. The garlands are held up by two erotes (cupids), standing on pedestals either side of the Gorgoneion, and at each of the four corners by a winged Nike on a pedestal. The left end of the tomb is also decorated with a not-so-attractive, masculine-looking Gorgoneion above a garland (see photo below). The relief head (or emblem) on the right side is too worn to be identified. The rear may also be decorated but is obscured by plants growing on the fence behind.Roman period, 140-180 AD. Found in 1954 at the foot of the Astyagou Pagos, west of the Lysimachian city wall of Ephesus. Dimensions (without lid):
Height 104 cm, length 229 cm, depth 108 cm.

A "beautiful type" Gorgon head.

The masculine-looking Gorgoneion on the left side of the sarchophagus from Ephesus above.

The top of an inscribed funerary stele with a relief of a Gorgoneionand dolphins, from the Roman city Mediolanum (Milan).Musso marble. Late 1st - early 2nd century AD.According to the inscription, the stele was commissioned bya woman, Bolana Secunda, and includes details of her will.Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 0.9.6600.

The top of the inscribed funerary stele of the shoemaker Gaius Atilius Iustus, witha relief of a Gorgoneion and dolphins from the Roman city Mediolanum (Milan).Musso marble. 2nd century AD. Found in the 16th century in Porto Nuovo, Milan.Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 0.9.6620.

Marble statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa.Original creation of the Flavian-Trajanic period, late 1stor early 2nd century AD. Found in "the Villa of Perseus",
near the baths at Porta Laurentina, south of Ostia.Ostia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 99.

Etruscan bronze statuette of Perseus,wearing a winged helmet, holding thehead of Medusa in his raised left hand,and a sickle in his lowered right hand.1st half of the 4th century BC. Height 13.3 cm.Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.Inv. No. 1929.22.

Marble Neo-Attic relief of Perseus rescuing Andromeda.Behind his back the hero hides the head of Medusa.Luna marble. First half of the 1st century AD.National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No. 6686. Farnese Collection.

A bronze head of Medusa from one of Caligula's Nemi ships.Lost wax cast, finished with burin and chisel.Made during the reign of Caligula (37-41 AD).Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. National Museum of Rome.

Marble bust of Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680),4th-5th decade of the 17th century AD.Perhaps made during the early years of the papacy of Innocent X, between 1644 and 1648,
when Bernini was out of favour at the papal court. The myth concerning Athena and Medusa,as related by Ovid, was retold in verse by Giovan Battista Marino. In Marino's version,
Medusa accidentally sees her own petrifying reflection and is herself turned to stone.Palazzo dei Conservatori, Capitoline Museums, Rome.

19th century iron parade shield with the head of Medusa as the central boss.Described as "European", the shield was previously believed to have been
made in the Renaissance, but is now thought to be from the 1800s, imitatingthe work of the Milanese armourer Filippo Negroli (circa 1510-1579).Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Inv. No. WA. OA1447.

The facade of the Athena restaurant and bar, Marinella-Selinunte, Sicily,designed in imitation of an ancient Doric temple, with a Gorgoneion
mask and snakes on the pediment, aktroteria and metopes with reliefs.

1. The Gorgon in HomerIn The Iliad, Athena puts on the aegis and the Gorgoneion:"About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror, all about which Rout is set as a crown, and therein is Strife, therein Valour, and therein Onset, that maketh the blood run cold, and therein is the head of the dread monster, the Gorgon, dread and awful, a portent of Zeus that beareth the aegis."Homer, The Iliad, Book 5, lines 739-740The Gorgoneion was also part of the decoration on the shield of Agamemnon:"And thereon was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout."Homer, The Iliad, Book 11, lines 1-46Homer, The Iliad, translated by A.T. Murray, in two volumes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.; William Heinemann, London. 1924. At Perseus Digital Library.In The Odyssey, Odysseus speaks of his terror of the Gorgon's head during his descent to Hades:"... so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Persephone should send up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon."Homer, The Odyssey, Book 11, 633Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler. At Perseus Digital Library.2. The Gorgons in HesiodThe poet Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος) is thought to have lived between 750 and 650 BC."And again, Ceto bore to Phorcys the fair-cheeked Graiae, sisters grey from their birth: and both deathless gods and men who walk on earth call them Graiae, Pemphredo well-clad, and saffron-robed Enyo, and the Gorgons who dwell beyond glorious Ocean in the frontier land towards Night [i.e. the west] where are the clear-voiced Hesperides, Sthenno, and Euryale, and Medusa who suffered a woeful fate: she was mortal, but the two were undying and grew not old. With her lay the Dark-haired One [Poseidon] in a soft meadow amid spring flowers.And when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus who is so called because he was born near the springs [pegai] of Ocean [Okeanos]; and that other, because he held a golden blade in his hands. Now Pegasus flew away and left the earth, the mother of flocks, and came to the deathless gods: and he dwells in the house of Zeus and brings to wise Zeus the thunder and lightning.But Chrysaor was joined in love to Callirrhoe, the daughter of glorious Ocean, and begot three-headed Geryones. Him mighty Heracles slew in sea-girt Erythea by his shambling oxen on that day when he drove the wide-browed oxen to holy Tiryns, and had crossed the ford of Ocean and killed Orthus and Eurytion the herdsman in the dim stead out beyond glorious Ocean.And in a hollow cave she bore another monster, irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days."Hesiod, Theogony, lines 270-303.The myth of Persus and Medusa also appears in the poem Shield of Heracles, attributed to Hesiod, but thought by some scholars to be a later derivative work. It describes the relief of figures and scenes decorating the magic shield."There, too, was the son of rich-haired Danae, the horseman Perseus: his feet did not touch the shield and yet were not far from it, very marvellous to remark, since he was not supported anywhere; for so did the famous Lame One [Hephaistos] fashion him of gold with his hands. On his feet he had winged sandals, and his black-sheathed sword was slung across his shoulders by a cross-belt of bronze. He was flying swift as thought. The head of a dreadful monster, the Gorgon, covered the broad of his back, and a bag of silver - a marvel to see - contained it: and from the bag bright tassels of gold hung down."Hesiod, Shield of Heracles, lines 216-244Both quotations from Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.; William Heinemann, London. 1914. At Perseus Digital Library.3. The myth of Perseus and the Gorgons in PherecydesPherecydes (Φερεκύδης) was a 5th century BC writer, referred to variously as Pherecydes of Leros (Φερεκύδης ὁ Λέριος) or Pherecydes of Athens (Φερεκύδης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος), with differing opinions on whether they were the same person. He is thought to have been a native of the island of Leros who spent much of his life in Athens.His Genealogies (οι Γενεαλογίαι), also referred to as Histories, was a work of ten books in the Ionian dialect, recording the popular myths of Greek gods and heroes with a particular emphasis on their genealogies. It was possibly written as propoganda, to demonstrate the divine and heroic pedigrees of prominent families in Attica, who may have been his patrons. The original work is lost, but several passages were quoted or used as sources by later ancient writers.A fragment of Pherecydes' account of the myth of Perseus and Medusa can be read in:Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, "Pherecydes, The Histories, fragments", "11 The story of Perseus (fr. 11 Fowler)", page 354. Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis, 2004. At googlebooks.The Library (Βιβλιοθήκη, Bibliotheki) of Apollodorus, an extensive and important source of Greek mythology, was long attributed to Apollodorus of Athens (Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος; circa 180 – after 120 BC). However, many scholars now believe it was written at a later date, around 100-200 AD, and the author is often referred to as Pseudo-Apollodorus. He frequently used Pherecydes' works as a source for his retelling of the myths. Book 2 of the Library, deals at length with the mythical history of Argos and events leading up to Perseus' quest to acquire Medusa's head.Sir James George Frazer (translator), Apollodorus, The Library, Book 2. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann Ltd., London. 1921. At Perseus Digital Library.The translator's notes: "The following legend of Perseus (Apollod. 2.4.1-4) seems to be based on that given by Pherecydes in his second book, which is cited as his authority by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1091, 1515, whose narrative agrees closely with that of Apollodorus."For a brief overview of sources of the Perseus myth, see:Ulrike Kenens, Greek Mythography at Work: The Story of Perseus from Pherecydes to Tzetzes. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 52 (2012), pages 147–166.4. The Gorgons in EuripidesEuripides (Εὐριπίδης, circa 480-406 BC). A speech by Queen Kreusa of Athens, in the tragedy Ion, written around 414 BC."Kreusa: There the earth [Gaia] brought forth the Gorgon, a dreadful monster."Euripides, Ion, lines 966-997Ion, translated by Robert Potter, in Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, Volume 1 (of 2), edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. Random House, New York, 1938. At Perseus Digital Library.See also:Euripides, Ion, written 414-412 BC. Translated by George Theodoridis.At Poetry in translation, A. S. Kline's FREE Poetry Archive.

Euripides is satirized by Aristophanes (circa 446-386 BC) in his comedy Thesmophoriazusae, written in 411 BC:"Euripides now enters, costumed as Perseus.Euripides: 'Oh! ye gods! to what barbarian land has my swift flight taken me? I am Perseus; I cleave the plains of the air with my winged feet, and I am carrying the Gorgon's head to Argos.'Scythian Archer: What, are you talking about the head of Gorgos, the scribe?Euripides: No, I am speaking of the head of the Gorgon."Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, Lines 1098-1135Aristophanes, Women at the Thesmophoria. Eugene O'Neill Jr., The complete Greek drama, Vol. 2. Random House, New York, 1938. At Perseus Digital Library.5. The home(s) of the Gorgonsa) Near the Garden of HesperidesThe name of Hesperides (Ἑσπερίδες) is derived from hesperos (evening), the origin of the name Hesperus, the evening star (Venus), and was associated with the west. The Hesperides were the nymphs of evening and the golden light of sunset, the "daughters of the evening" or "nymphs of the west". They lived in the Garden of Hesperides at the western edge of the known world, on the world-encircling ocean (Okeanos, the modern Atlantic Ocean), near the Atlas Mountains in North Africa.It was here that Herakles received the Golden Apples of Hesperides from Atlas. The famous rocks on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar - the boundary between the Mediteranean and the Atlantic - are known as the Pillars of Hercules.For Hesiod on the home of the Gorgons near the Hesperides, see note 2 above.b) LibyaThe Greeks used the name Libya (Λιβύη) to refer generally to the area of north Africa west of the Nile, known later as Cyrenaica (Κυρηναϊκή, Kyrenaike) after the city of Cyrene (Κυρήνη; Benghazi, Libya), particularly during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, today as the Maghreb. As the name of an area loosely defined in geographical terms, it roughly corresponds to Hesiod's mythological Hesperides.

All at Perseus Digital Library.c) SarpedonA number of places named Sarpedon (Σαρπηδών) were mentioned by ancient authors, including locations to the east, rather than west, of Greece:Cape Sarpedon, east of the river Hebros (Evros), Thrace (Strabo, Geography, Book 7, fragments);Cape Sarpedon in Cilicia, on the south coast of Anatolia (Asia Minor), opposite Cyprus (Strabo, Geography, Book 5, chapter 5 and Pliny the Elder, Natural history, Book 5, chapter 22).However, a commentary on the poem Song of Geryon by the Sicilian Greek poet Stesichorus (Στησίχορος, Stesikhoros, circa 630-555 BC), mentions Sarpedon as an island in Okeanos, west of Greece:"Stesikhoros in his Geryoneis calls an island in the Atlantic sea Sarpedonian."Stesichorus, Geryoneis Fragment S86 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius).See: http://www.theoi.com/Kosmos/Erytheia.htmlA fragment of an Archaic Greek poem (also from the Song of Geryon?) locates the Gorgons on a western Sarpedon island:"By him she conceived and bare the Gorgons, fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky island in deep-eddying Oceanus."Herodian, On Peculiar Diction, The Cypria, Fragment 21: the Gorgons. From the Epic Cycle, fragments of epic poems composed between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, describing the Titan war, the Theban saga and the Trojan War.See: www.theoi.com/Text/EpicCycle.htmlThe Song of Geryon deals with myths, including Herakles stealing the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, the grandson of Medusa, on the island Erytheia (Νησος Ερυθεια, Red Isle) in the western Mediterranean.d) KistheneIn Aischylos' play Prometheus Bound (written around 430 BC), Prometheus tells Io that the Graiae and Gorgons live at a place called Kisthene on "the Gorgonean plains", east of Greece:"Well, since you are bent on this, I will not refuse to proclaim all that you still crave to know. First, to you, Io, will I declare your much-vexed wandering, and may you engrave it on the recording tablets of your mind.When you have crossed the stream that bounds the two continents, toward the flaming east, where the sun walks, ...crossing the surging sea until you reach the Gorgonean plains of Cisthene, where the daughters of Phorcys dwell, ancient maids, three in number, shaped like swans, possessing one eye amongst them and a single tooth; neither does the sun with his beams look down upon them, nor ever the nightly moon. And near them are their three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons, loathed of mankind, whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath."Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, lines 780-818, translated by Herbert Weir Smyth. Harvard University Press. 1926. At Perseus Digital Library."The stream that bounds the two continents, toward the flaming east" must refer to the Hellespont, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus which divide Europe from Anatolia (Asia Minor). The virtual traveller must then cross "the surging sea" to reach the Gorgonean plains of Cisthene. The Gorgonean plains are otherwise unknown, but Kisthene (Κισθήνη) was the name of two ancient Greek settlements in Anatolia:A coastal city of Mysia, northwest of Pergamon, deserted by the time of Strabo (64/63 BC – circa 24 AD, Strabo, Geography, Book 13, chapter 1);An island with a city of the same name off the coast of Lycia, southwestern Anatolia (Strabo, Geography, Book 14, chapter 3, section 7), identified by some scholars as Kastellorizo.6. The Gorgons in Ovid's MetamorphosesThe Metamorphoses by Ovid, Book IV, lines 753-803, "Perseus tells the story of Medusa".
At poetryintranslation.com.A. S. Kline has provided an excellent prose translation in clear modern English. Mythological, historical and geographical names in the text are hyperlinked to a cross-referenced index which also acts as a glossary.

An older, arcane translation:Brookes More (editor), Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 4, lines 706 to end. Cornhill Publishing Co., Boston, 1922. At Perseus Digital Library.In several translations of Ovid, Medusa is "violated" (A. S. Kline) or "abused" (Arthur Golding, 1567) by Poseidon. The earlier versions of the myths do not specify that Poseidon raped Medusa. Hesiod, for example, wrote: "With her lay the Dark-haired One [Poseidon] in a soft meadow amid spring flowers." [see note 2 above] The poetic setting of soft meadow amid spring flowers lends the incident a more tender, almost romantic tone.7. Perseus and the Gorgon's head in AnatoliaThere were other local Greek myths and legends about Perseus' use of the Gorgon's head as a weapon. The Greeks took over an ancient city of Phrygia or Lycaonia in Anatolia which they called Ikonion (Ἰκόνιον, also Εἰκόνιον; Latin, Iconium; today Konya, Turkey). According to local tradition, Perseus defeated the local population there by using the Gorgon's head (εἰκών, icon, image), founded the city and set up the Gorgoneion on a pillar. Coins of Ikonion show Perseus walking left, holding a harpa and the head of Medusa.8. Pausanias on the Acropolis GorgoneionPausanias, Description of Greece, Book I, chapter 21, section 3. English translation by W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod, in 4 Volumes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, London, 1918. At Perseus Digital Library.In February 1395, Νiccοlo da Martoni, a notary from Capua, visited Athens on his return to Italy from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was shown the two columns of the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos, below the south wall of the Acropolis. He was told that between them formerly stood an idol which had the power to sink hostile ships as they appeared on the horizon. The idol may have been the gilded head of the Gorgon Medusa mentioned by Pausanias.See:James Morton Paton, Chapters on Mediaeval and Renaissance visitors to Greek lands, edited by L.A.P., Chapter 3 Niccolò da Martoni, pages 30-35. Gennadeion Monographs III. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton, New Jersey, 1951. PDF e-book at ascsa.edu.gr.Crusader Athens III: Florentine Athens (1388 - 1456) by John L. Tomkinson. At anagnosis.gr.9. Medusa on coinsSee the photos and articles at medusacoins.reidgold.com.10. Medusa: from beast to beautySee: Susan M. Serfontein, Medusa: from beast to beauty in Archaic and Classical illustrations from Greece and south Italy. M.A. thesis. Hunter College of the City University of New York, 1991."The primary aim of this thesis is to determine when the transformation of Medusa from a hideous monster into a beautiful woman initially occurs and whether this transformation is simultaneous with regard to both her full-figure representations and the gorgoneia."11. Servius on the aegisMaurus Servius Honoratus, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil, A. 8.435, (in Latin). Edited by Georgius Thilo. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1881. At Perseus Digital Library.12. Earliest depictions of the Gorgon myth1) The earliest known depiction of a Gorgon is on a Cycladic terracotta pithos (amphora) found in Thebes, Boeotia (1897), dated to around 670 BC, decorated with an incised and stamped relief depicting Perseus killing Medusa.Medusa is shown as a female centaur: naked, in human form to the waist; the body and hind legs of a horse project behind her, below the waist. Her midriff and front legs appear to be covered by a belted skirt which covers the feet (perhaps a solution to the problem of whether to show the front feet as human or equine). Her head and upper body face frontally, the equine part is shown in profile. A long hair braid hangs from either side of her triangular head. She has large round eyes and sharp, triangular teeth. She also has very long, slim fingers, and both figures look undernourished.The depiction of Medusa as a centaur may have been due to an association with the story of her sexual relationship with Poseidon, who was also worshipped as Hippios (Ἵππιος), "tamer of horses". According to one myth he mated with a creature who consequently gave birth to the first horse. Pegasus, who sprang from the body or blood of the slain Medusa, was considered by some mythographers to be her child from Poseidon.Perseus, also with large round eyes and long braids, stands in profile to her left. He wears Hades' cap which makes him invisible, a short chiton and Hermes' winged boots. A scabbard is slung on his back, and from a long strap around his right shoulder hangs the kibisis (κίβισις), the pouch he has taken from the Nymphs to contain Medusa's head. With his left hand he grasps one of Medusa's braids, and with the other he is cutting through her throat with his sword. His head is turned backwards so that he can avoid her deadly glare.Louvre, Paris. Inv. No. CA 795. Height of amphora 130 cm.

2) A fragment of another amphora from Thebes, also dated to around circa 670 BC, has part of a similar relief showing Perseus in the same way.Louvre, Paris. Inv. No. CA 937.

3) Bronze fragments of a large hammered ring (originally a disc), diameter 77 cm, surrounding a cut-out, shallow sheet relief figure of a Gorgon. From the Athens Acropolis, mid 7th century BC. Thought to be an akroterion (roof decoration) from the pediment of a small temple on the Acropolis, perhaps the first temple of Athena Polias, a predecessor of the Erechtheion. This is the earliest known depiction of a Gorgon from the Aropolis.The remains of the frontal Gorgon figure appear to be of very primitive workmanship, although it is difficult to imagine how it looked when it was complete, with other attachments and probably coloured. The large head sits directly on the remains of the wings; the inner edges of their bases touch on the breast. A long chiton reaches to just above the ankles, revealing feet which are also shown frontally. The garment is drawn at the waist, suggesting it was girdled.A bow-shaped ridge at the top of the head marks her hairline. The eyebrows, formed by another ridge like a simple drawing of the outline of a flying bird, appears to be attached (i.e. continues on the same raised plane) to a broad flaring nose. The eyes are glaring but unremarkable. The rectangular mouth has rows of square teeth, fangs at each end and a tongue hanging above a squarish cleft chin. It looks like an early attempt at the lion-mask form.It has been suggested that the figure represents "Potnia Theron", Mistress of Animals (as on the plate from Kamiros, Rhodes above), and perhaps held a lion with each hand.Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 13050.(Formerly in the National Archaelogical Museum, Athens)

4) A fragment of an ivory relief from the sanctuary of Hera on Samos, dated to the fourth quarter 7th century BC, also shows Perseus killing Medusa. The quality of the carving is superb.Perseus, with his hair in long braids, faces frontally. He wears a conical cap or helmet, a short chiton, belted at the waist, and a strap passing diagonally from his right shoulder, across his chest to the waist. With his left hand he grasps Medusa's enormous head, and with his right hand he decapitates her with a sword. The frontal head is in the form of the lion-mask, which must be one of the earliest of this type. Her huge winged body can be seen falling behind the head. The head, arm and hand of another figure can be seen on the left of Perseus. This is probably Athena encouraging the hero.Samos Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. E1.

5) Fragments of a small, rectangular ivory relief from Sparta, circa 630-620 BC, showing Perseus decapitating Medusa in a similar way. The fragments are incomplete, but Perseus appears to be standing in profile, with the sword in his right hand, and his left grasping snakes which grow from Medusa's head.The winged Gorgon, wearing a long skirt, is kneeling, with her back to him, and he has his left foot on the back of her calves. As noted by the archaeologist Alan Johnston, commenting on the similar pose of Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemos on the "Eleusis Amphora": "He kneels on his opponent like a pharaoh." * The head of Medusa too appears to be influenced by Egyptian art, although the state of the fragments allow no certainty. The plaque has been reconstructed to show her with a potruding tongue. Both figures appear to have bare feet.National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 15365.* Alan Johnston, Pre-Classical Greece, in John Boardman (editor), The Oxford history of classical art, page 32. Oxford University Press, 1993.

6) A bronze shield brand from Olympia, circa 560 BC, shows Athena taking an active part in killing the Gorgon. Winged Medusa, in a frontal kneeling/fleeing position, has four snakes rising from her head. Perseus on the left, and Athena on the right (both in profile), each grasp one of the snakes with their left hands. Athena appears to be holding on to Medusa's neck with her right hand. Perseus is looking away from Medusa and about to decapitate her with the sword in his right hand. He wears a cap and a short, belted chiton with a diagonal shoulder strap, but is naked below the waist. All three figures are barefooted.Medusa wears a short, belted chiton, and her straight wings are lowered. With her bent left arm she reaches up to her right shoulder, perhaps about to defend herself from Perseus' sword. Her right hand appears to be grasping the under side of her left thigh. Her head is shown as a variant of the lion-mask.Olympia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. B 975.13. Greek influence on Gorgon iconography in SicilyAlthough a number of Archaic depictions of Gorgons have been attributed to Corinthian workshops (for example, the terracotta metopes from Thermon above), Katrina Marie Heller has pointed out that "Corinth has only one recorded Gorgon found on temple architecture, Crete, as seen has a total of eight across the whole island, Megara Hyblaea, in Sicily has only one, and the Greek Megara does not show a record of any Gorgons."Katrina Marie Heller, Iconography of the Gorgons on temple decoration in Sicily and Western Greece, pages 28-29. BSc thesis. The Archaeological Studies Program, Department of Sociology and Archaeology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2010.Ms Heller's figures are based on data collected by Janer Belson, who recorded the number of Gorgons found throughout the Greek world for her 1981 PhD dissertation, The Gorgoneion in Greek architecture (Bryn Mawr College). Heller also addresses several other questions, including whether Gorgon iconography was developed independently on Sicily, and whether Gorgon imagery had an apotropaic or merely decorative function.

14. The Hekatompedon Gorgon reconstructionThe excellent official guidebook to the new Acropolis Museum includes a drawing of the reconstruction with superimposed photos of the two fragments, but without comment, and there is no mention of it in the main text.Dimitrios Pandermalis, Stamatia Eletheratou, Christina Vlassopoulou, Acropolis Museum Guide, fig. 109, page 106 and page 108. Acropolis Museum Editons, Athens, 2014.The substantial Latsis volume on the Old Acropolis Museum includes photos of the Gorgon head and the reconstruction, but is equally tacit about its history and the reconstruction.Ismene Trianti, The Acropolis Museum, page 29 and figs. 2-3. John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A.. OLKOS, Athens, 1998. 452 pages. E-book in English and Greek at the Latsis Foundation website.15. Wilhelm Dörpfeld on the HekatompedonSee, for example:Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Untersuchungen am Parthenon, Seiten 283-362 and Tafel XII, in Mittheilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institutes in Athen, sechster Jahrgang. Karl Wilberg, Athen, 1881.16. The Gorgon fragments in the Acropolis museum"6th shelf. Various. No. 3798 shews a hand holding two snakes - in relief. Schrader (op. cit., p.6, fig.3) assigns it to the Gorgon head, No. 701."Stanley Casson, Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum, Volume II: Sculpture and architectural fragments, page 305. Cambridge University Press, 1921. At archive.org.17. Schrader's reconstruction of the Hekatompedon gable
Hans Schrader, Archaische Marmor-Skulpturen im Akropolis-Museum zu Athen, Seiten 5-16. Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut. A. Hölder, Wien, 1909. At archive.org.18. Support for Schrader's reconstruction"Schrader has rightly restored the figure as a running gorgon by the help of some other fragments in the museum, and has fixed it as the central akroterion of the oldest Athena temple. In style the face shews close resemblance to the Moschophoros, especially in the treatment of the grooves between eyelids and eyebrows, and in the folds outlining nostrils and mouth."Guy Dickins (1881-1916), Catalogue Of The Acropolis Museum, Volume I: Archaic Sculpture, page 269. Cambridge University Press, 1912. At archive.org.Read more about the British archaeologist Guy Dickins in Demeter and Persephone Part 2.

19. The "Brother and Sister Stele"Tall marble grave stele, known as the "Brother and Sister Stele", said to be from Attica. High Archaic, circa 540-530 BC. Total height 423.4 cm.The main part of the stele has a low relief of a youth and young girl in profile, facing right. From a fragmentary inscription, it is thought that they may represent children of Megakles. It is topped with a seated sphinx with sickle shaped wings. The body is in profile, facing right, but the head is frontal, with long wavy hair and a diadem decorated with a painted maeander.The stele, reconstructed from several fragments, is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Inv. No. 11.185a–d, f, g, x.A further fragment, with traces of colour, showing the head and hand of the girl holding a pomegranate is in the State Museums, Berlin (SMB). Inv. No. 1531.20. Gorgon from the "Kalliades Stele", New YorkThe Archaic marble slab from Attica is part of the grave stele of "Kalliades, son of Thoutimides", identified from a three line inscription on the bottom left corner. Circa 550–525 BC.The front of the slab is almost completely taken up by the figure of a running/flying Gorgon, in a pose similar to the Gorgon Stele in Athens. However, the figure is much more dynamic, and since she is not confined by a base line or frame, appears to flying in space. In the museum's description she is described as "fleeing", but a fleeing monster would hardly inspire confidence as a fearsome apotropaic protectress.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Inv. No. 55.11.4.See: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254818

See also the grave stele of Aristion sculpted by Aristokles.21. ProtomeA protome (Greek, προτομή, foremost or upper part of something; from the verb προτέμνειν, protemnein, to cut off the front) is a depiction of the head, bust or forepart of an animal, human or fabulous creature, usually a frontal view, in art and architectural decoration, on utensils, coins, etc.The earliest known use of the word was by the English doctor, clergyman, antiquarian and natural philosopher William Stukeley (1687–1765), who also pioneered the archaeological investigation of Avebury and Stonehenge. The word protome was used - without explanation - in:William Stukeley, The family memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D., and the antiquarian and other correspondence of William Stukeley, Roger & Samuel Gale, etc., Volume III, pages 56 and 61 (extracts from diary entries for September 1737 and July 1739). Publications of the Surtees Society, Volume LXXX for the year 1885. Durham, London, Edinburgh, 1887. At the Internet Archive.William Stukeley, The medallic history of Marcus Aurelius Valerius Carausius, Emperor in Brittain, Book I, pages 29 and 144. Charles Corbet, bookseller, London, 1757. At googlebooks.22. Gorgon with krobylos from GelaSee: Marina Castoldi, Vera da cisterna con Gorgoneia da Gela, Numismatica e antichità classiche (Quaderni Ticinesi), XXXIX, 2010, pages 61-76.A fragment of a "gorgone con krobylos" antefix from Gela, dated to around 500 BC, with well-preserved colours, is in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Inv. No. 1984.522.23. Perseus beheading Medusa in New YorkSee also an Attic red-figure pelike (jar), circa 450–440 BC, attributed to Polygnotos, with a finely drawn depiction of Perseus beheading the sleeping Medusa. Perseus, naked except for cloak, winged cap and boots, looks back to Athena while using a harpe to decapitate Medusa as she sleeps. One of the earliest depictions of Medusa as a beautiful young woman rather than a hideous monster.Metropolitan Museum, New York. Inv. No. 45.11.1.
See: metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/25452324. The Bomford cup, eye-cups and Anakreontic vasesThe earliest surviving Athenian eye-cup is thought to be the "Dionysus Cup", a kylix signed by Exekias, and dated around 540-530 BC (Antikensammlungen, Munich, Inv. No. 2044). However, the type may either have been invented around 540 BC in Chalkis, Euboea, or was developed independently at Chalkis and Athens from the so-called "eye bowls" manufactured in East Greece from the late 7th to the mid 6th centuries BC. The new style appears to have caught on quickly in both cities, but production ceased around 480 BC at the end of the Archaic period.See:John Beazley, Attic black-figure vase-painters. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1956.John Boardman, Athenian black figure vases. Oxford University Press, 1974.
John Boardman, A curious eye-cup. Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1976, Heft 3, pages 281-290. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Walter de Gruyter Verlag, Berlin.Michael Vickers, Recent Acquisitions of Greek Antiquities by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1981, Heft 4, pages 541-561.H. Alan Shapiro, Courtship scenes in Attic vase-painting. American Journal of Archaeology, Volume 85, No. 2 (April 1981), pages 133-143. At jstor.
Sarah D. Price, Anacreontic Vases Reconsidered. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, Volume 31, No. 2 (1990), pages 133-175. At Duke University Libraries, Durham, North Carolina.
Guy Hedreen, Involved spectatorship in Archaic Greek art. Art History, Volume 30, Issue 2, April 2007, pages 217-246.
Andrew Prentice, Athenian eyecups of the Late Archaic Period. emaj (electronic Melbourne art journal), Issue 2, 2007.For the eye-cup with the satyr mask, signed by Nikosthenes, in the Louvre, see:Beazley Archive Database, Vase No. 302281Only a few East Greek eye bowls have survived, some just as fragments, and literature concerning them is also rare. A multiple eye-cup with a graffito dedication to Aphrodite by Rhoikos, made in north Ionia in the second quarter of the 6th century BC, was found in Naukratis, Egypt. British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1888,0601.392. See:www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/...Eye bowls are briefly mentioned among other types of Archaic East Greek pottery (e.g. Wild Goat Style and Fikellura ware) in:Robert Manuel Cook, Greek Painted Pottery, page 118. Methuen, London, 1966.25. Gorgon mosaic in Terrace House 2, EphesusSee: David Parrish, Architectural function and decorative programs in the terrace houses in Ephesos, Topoi, volume 7/2, 1997, pages 579-633. At persee.fr.An important article on the decoration of the Hanghäuser, with plans, photos and citations of the key studies of the subect. Parrish refers to Terrace House 2, Dwelling Unit 3 (on the plan "Hanghaus 2, Wohnung 3") as House 3.26. Campana platesCampana plates, also known as Campana reliefs, are named after the Italian art collector Giampietro Campana (1808-1880) who acquired a large collections of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts, and who first published information about the reliefs in 1842.

The sculpture was seen at Eleusis by des Mouceaux in 1668 and by Jacob Spon and George Wheler on 5th February 1676 (see drawing, right). Spon, Wheler, Clarke and other early northern European travellers to Greece (Pococke, Montfaucon) were convinced that the sculpture was the upper part of a colossal statue of Ceres (Demeter).Clarke (1769-1822) obtained a firman from the Waiwode (Turkish governer, see Athens Acropolis gallery page 1) of Athens to remove the sculpture, much to the indignation of many people for whom it remained sacred. Clarke himself remarked on the local tradition, quoting Richard Chandler, who believed the statue represented Proserpine (Persephone):"A tradition prevails, that if the broken Statue be removed, the fertility of the land will cease. Achmet Aga [the Turkish military commander] was fully possessed with this superstition, and declined permitting us to dig or measure there, until I had overcome his scruples by a present of a handsome snuff-box, containing several zechins or pieces of gold."Richard Chandler (1738-1810), Travels in Greece, page 191. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1776.Clarke also reported:"... as often as foreigners came to remove the Statue, some disaster ensued. They believed that the arm of any person who offered to touch it with violence, would drop drop off; and said, that once being taken from her station by the French, she returned back in the night to her former situation.""But the superstition of the inhabitants of Eleusis, respecting an idol which they all regarded as the protectress of their fields, was not the least obstacle to be overcome. (They maintained that no ship would ever get safe into port with the Statue on board; and the prediction was amply verified in the wreck of the Princessa.)On the evening preceding the removal of the Statue, an accident happened, which had nearly put an end to the undertaking. While the inhabitants were conversing with the Turkish officer who brought the Firman from the Waiwode of Athens, an ox, loosed from its yoke, came and placed itself before the Statue, and, after butting with its horns for some time against the marble, ran off with considerable speed, bellowing, into the plain of Eleusis. Instantly a general murmur prevailed; and several women joining in the clamour, it was with difficulty any proposal could be made. 'They had been always,' they said, 'famous for their corn; and the fertility of the land would cease when the Statue was removed.' These are exactly the words of Cicero with respect to the Sicilians, when Verres removed the Statue of Ceres [statues of Demeter and Triptolemus from the Temple at Enna]: 'Quod, Cerere violata, omnes cultus fructusque Cereris in his locis interiisse arbitrantur.' (Cicero in Verr. lib. iv. c. 5 I.)At length, however, these scruples were removed; and on the following morning, November 22nd 1801, the Priest of Eleusis, arrayed in his vestments as for high mass, descended into the hollow in which the Statue was partially buried, to strike the first blow with a pickaxe for the removal of the rubbish, that the people might be convinced no calamity would befall the labourers."On 23 November 1801 the statue was put on a Casiot ship at the port of Eleusis and taken to Smyrna (Izmir), "where the Statue was again moved into the Princessa merchantman, Captain Lee. In her passage home, this vessel was wrecked and lost near Beachy Head; but the Statue was recovered, and finally reached its destination.""Herein was completely verified the augury of the Eleusiniaus ; who were so convinced of the disaster which was to befall the vessel, that the news of the wreck has served to confirm them in their superstitions concerning the Statue. It may be amusing to add, that subsequent travellers, having visited the spot since the Statue was removed, have been much entertained with the stories they relate. The first year after the departure of the Goddess, their corn proved very abundant, and they were in constant expectation that Ceres would return. The next year, however, was not so favourable; and they begin to fear she has deserted them. 'It would have been impossible,' they say, 'without witchcraft, to have carried her off.'"
Edward Daniel Clarke, Greek marbles brought from the shores of the Euxine, Archipelago, and Mediterranean and deposited in the vestibule of the public library of the University of Cambridge, pages 13-37. Cambridge University Press, 1809. At archive.org. The drawing, above right, is on page 31.

Engraving of a drawing by George Wheler ofthe caryatid he and Jacob Spon saw in Eleusis.Source: George Wheler, A journey intoGreece, page 428. London, 1682.

Drawing by John Flaxman (1755-1826)of the caryatid from Eleusis now in theFitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, withthe face restored.Engraved by Peltro William Tomkins.Source: Edward Daniel Clarke, Greekmarbles brought from the shoresof the Euxine..., see below, left.

Photos on this page were taken during
visits to the following museums: